Pagina 394 van 1116

After this they returned to the ship and thence brought bread and

flour, honey and fruits, clarified butter,[FN#264] leather

bottles containing liquors and many household stuffs; also

furniture, table service and mirrors rugs, carpets and in fact

all needed to furnish a dwelling; and they kept going to and fro,

and descending by the trap door, till they had transported into

the dwelling all that was in the ship. After this the slaves

again went on board and brought back with them garments as rich

as may be, and in the midst of them came an old, old man, of whom

very little was left, for Time had dealt hardly and harshly with

him, and all that remained of him was a bone wrapped in a rag of

blue stuff through which the winds whistled west and east. As

saith the poet of him:-

Time gars me tremble Ah, how sore the baulk! * While Time in

pride of strength doth ever stalk: Time was I walked nor ever

felt I tired, * Now am I tired albe I never walk!