The King Orgulous 265

bitter pride sprang up and choked all that
was sweet and gracious and lovable in the
nature of the man.

Then did the wise and gentle folk of
Sarras come to perceive how woefully they
had been deceived in the tyrant they had
crowned, and speedily it came to pass that
when they spoke of King Talisso they breathed
not his name, but using an ancient word to
signify such insane and evil pride as that of
Lucifer and the Fallen Angels, they called
him the King Orgulous. Yet if this was
the mind of the better folk, there was no
lack of base and venomous creatures — flat-
terers, time-servers and sycophants — to
minister to his wickedness and malignity.

Dark were the days which now fell on
Sarras, and few were those on which some
violence or injustice, some deed of lust or
rapacity was not flaunted in the face of
heaven. The most noble and best men of
the city were attainted and plundered and
driven into exile. Of the meaner sort of
folk many a poor citizen or rustic toiler went
shaven and branded, or maimed of nose and
eyelids, or with black stumps seared with
pitch and an iron hook for hand. Once