Said the old man:
"We thank thee for coming to see us; and meseemeth from the look
of thee thou art worthy to dwell in my Lady's House."
"What sayest thou?" said Ralph. "Is she a good lady and a gracious?"
"O yea, yea," said the carle. Said Ralph: "Thou meanest, I suppose,
that she is fair to look on, and soft-spoken when she is pleased?"
"I mean far more than that," said the carle; "surely is she
most heavenly fair, and her voice is like the music of heaven:
but withal her deeds, and the kindness of her to us poor
men and husbandmen, are no worse than should flow forth
from that loveliness."
"Will you be her servants?" said Ralph, "or what are ye?" Said the carle:
"We be yeomen and her vavassors; there is no thralldom in our land."
"Do ye live in good peace for the more part?" said Ralph.
Said the carle: "Time has been when cruel battles were fought
in these wood-lawns, and many poor people were destroyed therein:
but that was before the coming of the Lady of Abundance."
"And when was that?" said Ralph. "I wot not," said the old carle;
"I was born in peace and suckled in peace; and in peace
I fell to the loving of maidens, and I wedded in peace,
and begat children in peace, and in peace they dwell about me,
and in peace shall I depart."
"What then," said Ralph (and a grievous fear was born in his
heart), "is not the Lady of Abundance young?" Said the carle:
"I have seen her when I was young and also since I have been old,
and ever was she fair and lovely, and slender handed, as straight
as a spear, and as sweet as white clover, and gentle-voiced and kind,
and dear to our souls.
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