1459   Ne grew ther tree in mannes sighte
1460   So fair, ne so wel woxe in highte;
1461   In al that yerde so high was noon.
1462   And springing in a marble-stoon
1463   Had nature set, the sothe to telle,
1464   Under that pyn-tree a welle.
1465   And on the border, al withoute,
1466   Was writen, in the stone Aboute,
1467   Lettres smale, that seyden thus,
1468   'Here starf the faire Narcisus.'
1469   Narcisus was a bachelere,
1470   That Love had caught in his daungere,
1471   And in his net gan him so streyne,
1472   And dide him so to wepe and pleyne,
1473   That nede him muste his lyf forgo.
1474   For a fair lady, hight Echo,
1475   Him loved over any creature,
1476   And gan for him swich peyne endure,
1477   That on a tyme she him tolde,
1478   That, if he hir loven nolde,
1479   That hir behoved nedes dye,
1480   Ther lay non other remedye.
1481   But natheles, for his beautee,
1482   So fiers and daungerous was he,