e serving men and thralls to
the castle of the Outer March; and he was in no wise treated as a great
man's son; but there was more than one woman who was kind to him, and
as he waxed in strength and beauty month by month, both carle and
quean fell to noting him, and, for as little as he was, he began to be
well-beloved.

As to the stead where he was nourished, though it were far away amongst
the woods, it was no such lonely or savage place: besides the castle and
the houses of it, there was a merry thorpe in the clearing, the houses
whereof were set down by the side of a clear and pleasant little stream.
Moreover the goodmen and swains of the said township were no ill folk,
but bold of heart, free of speech, and goodly of favour; and the women
of them fair, kind, and trusty. Whiles came folk journeying in to
Oakenrealm or out to Meadham, and of these some were minstrels, who had
with them tidings of what was astir whereas folk were thicker in the
world, and some chapmen, who chaffered with the thorpe-dwellers, and
took of them the woodland spoil for such outland goods as those woodmen
needed.

So wore the years, and in Oakenham King Christopher was well nigh
forgotten, and in the wild-wood had never been known clearly for King's
son. At first, by command of Rolf the Marshal, a messenger came
every year from Lord Richard with a letter that told of how the lad
Christopher did. But when five years were worn, the Marshal bade send
him tidings thereof every three years; and by then it was come to the
twelfth year, and still the tidings were that the lad throve ever, and
meanwhile the Marshal sat fast in his seat with none to gainsay, the
word went to Lord Richard that he should send no more, for that he, the
Marshal, had heard enough of the boy; and if he throve it were well, and
if not, it was no worse. So wore the days and the years.

CHAPTER III. OF THE KING OF MEADHAM AND HIS DAUGHTER.

Tells the tale that in the country which lay south of Oakenrealm, and
was called Meadham, there was in these days a king whose wife was dead,
but had left him a fair daughter, who was born some four years after
King Christopher. A good man was this King Roland, mild, bounteous, and
no regarder of persons in his justice; and well-beloved he was of his
folk: yet could not their love keep him alive; for, whenas his daughter
was of the age of twelve years, he sickened unto death; and so, when he
knew that his end drew near, he sen