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—Launcelet
23
But I pray you, ergo, old man, ergo I beseech you, talk you of young Master Launcelet?

—Old Gobbo
Of Launcelet, if it° please your mastership. {ant} / should it

—Launcelet
24
Ergo Master Launcelet. Talk not of Master Launcelet, old man, for the young
gentleman—according to his fate and destiny, and various legends which include the three
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sisters —+who measure out and cut the thread of one’s life, —and such branches of
learning—is, indeed deceased; or, as you would say in plain terms, gone to heaven.

—Old Gobbo
Mother of God—forbid! The boy was +to be, the staff of my older years, my very prop.

—Launcelet
Do I look like a short stick or a post to hold up a sagging hovel? Am I but a staff or a
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prop? —Do you not know me, father? 28

—Old Gobbo
Alack the day, I know you not, young gentleman. But I pray you, tell me, is my boy—God rest
his soul—alive or dead?

—Launcelet
Do you not know me father?

—Old Gobbo
Alack sir, I am all but blind.° I know you not. {I am sand-blind}

—Launcelet
Nay, indeed, even if you had your eyes, you might still fail in knowing me. It is a wise father that
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knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son. [he kneels] Give me
your blessing. Truth will come to light, just as a crime cannot be hidden for long. A man’s son
may +also hide, but in the end the truth will come out.° / be known

—Old Gobbo

23. ergo: Latin term which means, ‘therefore,’ herein used by Launcelet to impress his father with his knowledge
Latin, and also to mock scholars who were wont to overuse the term.
24. {father}
25. {Sisters Three} The three old women of classical mythology who spin, measure, and cut the thread of a person’s
life, thus determining the length of one’s life span.
26. / who measure the length of a man’s life / who determine the length of one’s life
27. {Do I look like a cudgel or a hovel-post, a staff or a prop?}
cudgel: short branch, club
28. {Do you know me, father?}
29. Inversion of the proverb: ‘It’s a wise child who knows his own father.’