So the bull-knight spake to me about
the woodland, and wherefore I dwelt there apart from others;
somewhat rough in his speech he was, yet rather jolly than fierce;
and he thanked me for the bever kindly enough, and said:
"I deem that it will not avail to give thee money;
but I shall give thee what may be of avail to thee.
Ho, Gervaise! give me one of those scrolls!" So a squire hands
him a parchment and he gave it me, and it was a safe-conduct
to the bearer from the Lord of Utterbol; but whereas I saw
that the seal bore not the Bear on the Castle-wall, but the Bull,
and that the superscription was unknown to me, I held the said
scroll in my hand and wondered; and the knight said to me:
"Yea, look long at it; but so it is, though thou trow it not, that I
am verily Lord of Utterbol, and that by conquest; so that belike I
am mightier than he was, for that mighty runagate have I slain.
And many there be who deem that no mishap, heathen though I be.
Come thou to Utterbol and see for thyself if the days be not
changed there; and thou shalt have a belly-full of meat and drink,
and honour after thy deserving." So they rested a while,
and then went their ways. To Utterbol I went not, but ere I
departed to come hither two or three carles strayed my way,
as whiles they will, who told me that this which the knight
had said was naught but the sooth, and that great was the change
of days at Utterbol, whereas all men there, both bond and free,
were as merry as they deserved to be, or belike merrier.
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