66

They went lightly on their way,
With swords and bucklers round
By that it was mid of the day,
They made many a wound.

There was many an out-horn in Carlisle blown,
And the bells backward did ring;

Many a woman said alas!

The

mayor

of Carlisle forth was come,

With him a full great route;

These yeomen dread him full sore,

Of their lives they stood in great doubt.

The mayor came armed a full great pace,
With a pollaxe in his hand;
Many a strong man with him was,
There in that stour to stand.

The mayor smote at Cloudesly with his bill,
His buckler he brast1 in two;

Full many a yeoman with great evil,
"Alas! treason" they cried for woe,
'Keep we the gates fast," they bade,
"That these traitors thereout not go."

1 [Burst.]

But all for nought was that they wrought, For so fast they down were laid,

Till they all three, that so manfully fought Were gotten without at abraide.1

He threw their keys at their heads,

And bad them evil to thrive ;

1 1 [Abroad.]

And all that letteth any good yeoman
To come and comfort his wife.

Thus be these good yeomen gone to the wood,
And lightly as leaf on lynde1

They laugh and be merry in their mood,
Their enemies were far behind.

And when they came to English-wood,
Under the trusty tree,

There they found bows full good,
And arrows full great plenty.

"So God me help," said Adam Bell And Clym of the Clough so free, "I would we were in merry Carlisle, Before that fair meinie."2

They set them down and made good cheer,
And eat and drank full well:

A second part of the wighty yeoman :
Another I will you tell.

1[The linden tree.]

2 [Company.]

PART THE THIRD.

As they sat in English-wood,
Under the greenwood tree,
They thought they heard a woman weep,
But her they might not see.

Sore then sighed the fair Alice:
"That ever I saw this day!
For now is my dear husband slain,
Alas! and wel-a-way!

"Might I have spoken with his dear brethren,
Or with either of them twain,

To show to them what him befell,
My heart were out of pain."

Cloudesly walked a little beside,

2

He looked under the green-wood linde,

He was ware of his wife and his children three,

Full woe in heart and mind.

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Welcome, wife," then said William,

"Under this trusty tree;

I had ween'd yesterday, by sweet Saint John,

Thou should'st me never have see.'

"Now well is me that ye be here,

My heart is out of woe.'

"Dame," he said, " be merry and glad, And thank my brethren two."

"Hereof to speak," said Adam Bell,
"I wis it is no boot;

The meat, that we must sup withal,
It runneth yet fast on foot."

Then went they down into a land,
These noble archers all three,

Each of them slew a hart of greece,1
The best that they could see.

"Have here the best, Alice, my wife," Said William of Cloudesly;

"Because ye so boldly stood by me,

When I was slain full nigh."

1 1 [Fat.]