“With body clean, and with unwemmed thought, Keep aye well these coronës two,” quoth he; “From Paradise to you I have them brought, Nor ever morë shall they rotten be, Nor lose their sweetë savour, trustë me, Nor ever wight shall see them with his eye, But he be chaste, and hatë villainy.
“And thou, Valerian, for thou so soon Assented hast to good counsél, also Say what thee list, and thou shalt have thy boon.” “I have a brother,” quoth Valerian tho, “That in this world I love no man so; I pray you that my brother may have grace To know the truth, as I do in this place.”
The angel said, “God liketh thy request, And bothë, with the palm of martyrdom, Ye shallë come unto this blissful rest.” And, with that word, Tiburce his brother came. And when that he the savour undernome Which that the roses and the lilies cast, Within his heart he gan to wonder fast;
And said; “I wonder, this time of the year, Whencë that sweetë savour cometh so Of rose and lilies, that I smellë here; For though I had them in mine handës two, The savour might in me no deeper go; The sweetë smell, that in my heart I find, Hath changed me all in another kind.”
Valerian said, “Two crownës here have we, Snow-white and rosë-red, that shinë clear, Which that thine eyen have no might to see; And, as thou smellest them through my prayére, So shalt thou see them, levë brother dear, If it so be thou wilt withoutë sloth Believe aright, and know the very troth.”
Tiburce answéred, “Say’st thou this to me In soothness, or in dreamë hear I this?” “In dreamës,” quoth Valerian, “have we be Unto this timë, brother mine, y-wis: But now at erst in truth our dwelling is.” “How know’st thou this,” quoth Tiburce; “in what wise?” Quoth Valerián, “That shall I thee devise.