s were
filled with pity, and Little John fell on his knees and bade the
Knight welcome in the name of his master.

'Who is your master?' asked the Knight.

'Robin Hood,' answered Little John.

'I have heard much good of him,' replied the Knight, 'and will go with
you gladly.'

Then they all set off together, tears running down the Knight's cheeks
as he rode, but he said nothing, neither was anything said to him. And
in this wise they came to Robin Hood.

'Welcome, Sir Knight,' cried he, 'and thrice welcome, for I waited to
break my fast till you or some other had come to me.'

'God save you, good Robin,' answered the Knight, and after they had
washed themselves in the stream they sat down to dine off bread and
wine, with flesh of the King's deer, and swans and pheasants. 'Such a
dinner have I not had for three weeks and more,' said the Knight. 'And
if I ever come again this way, good Robin, I will give you as fine a
dinner as you have given me.'

'I thank you,' replied Robin, 'my dinner is always welcome; still, I
am none so greedy but I can wait for it. But before you go, pay me, I
pray you, for the food which you have had. It was never the custom for
a yeoman to pay for a Knight.'

'My bag is empty,' said the Knight, 'save for ten shillings only.'

'Go, Little John, and look in his wallet,' said Robin, 'and, Sir
Knight, if in truth you have no more, not one penny will I take, nay,
I will give you all that you shall need.'

So Little John spread out the Knight's mantle, and opened the bag, and
therein lay ten shillings and naught besides.

'What tidings, Little John?' cried his master.

'Sir, the Knight speaks truly,' said Little John.

'Then fill a cup of the best wine and tell me, Sir Knight, whether it
is your own ill doings which have brought you to this sorry pass.'

'For an hundred years my fathers have dwelt in the forest,' answered
the Knight, 'and four hundred pounds might they spend yearly. But
within two years misfortune has befallen me, and my wife and children
also.'

'How did this evil come to pass?' asked Robin.

'Through my own folly,' answered the Knight, 'and because of the great
love I bore my son, who would never be guided of my counsel, and slew,
ere he was twenty years old, a Knight of Lancaster and his Squire. For
their deaths I had to pay a large sum, which I could not raise
without giving my lands in pledge to the rich Abbot of St. Mary's. If
I cannot bring him the money by