Duke Frederick had driven out his brother and taken his place. The banished brother was living in the forest of Arden with a few of his lords. Only his daughter Rosalind had stayed behind at court. She and the duke’s own daughter Celia had grown up like sisters.
Around that time a wrestling match was held at court. A young man named Orlando, mistreated by his brother, had left home to enter it. He threw the champion nobody had been able to beat, and Rosalind was watching. The two of them exchanged barely a word and took each other away in their hearts.
A few days later Duke Frederick sent for Rosalind and ordered her out. Asked why, he answered that being her father’s daughter was reason enough. Celia refused to let her cousin go alone, and prepared to leave with her.