Forsooth, by that time we lacked more than they,
for we were worn with cold and hunger, and hard life:
though for me, indeed, happy had been the days of my wayfaring,
but my lord remembered the days of his riches and the kingdom
of his father, and the worship of mighty men, and all that
he had promised me on the happy day when I first beheld him:
so belike he was scarce so happy as I was.
"It was springtime when we came to that folk; for we had worn
through the autumn and winter in getting clear of the wilderness.
Not that the way was long, as I found out afterwards, but that we went
astray in the woodland, and at last came out of it into a dreadful
stony waste which we strove to cross thrice, and thrice were driven
back into the greenwood by thirst and hunger; but the fourth time,
having gotten us store of victual by my woodcraft, we overpassed it
and reached the peopled country.
"Yea, spring was on the earth, as we, my lord and I, came down from
the desolate stony heaths, and went hand and hand across the plain,
where men and women of that folk were feasting round about the simple
roofs and woodland halls which they had raised there. Then they
left their games and sports and ran to us, and we walked on quietly,
though we knew not whether the meeting was to be for death or life.
But that kind folk gathered round us, and asked us no story till
they had fed us, and bathed us, and clad us after their fashion.
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