ld put the stone, and a large smooth piece of rock was chosen. Man
after man came forward, but hardly one could raise it from the ground,
far less cast it any distance from him. At this moment the cook strolled
up and saw his scullion standing there.

'It is your turn,' he said to Havelok; 'show them what you can do, for
the honour of Lincoln,' and Havelok obeyed him. He lifted the mighty
stone to the height of his shoulder, and sent it spinning through the
air.

'Measure the cast,' said the cook proudly; and when it was measured it
was found to be twelve feet beyond the cast of any other man.

Little was talked of that day but the wonderful throw of the young
scullion, and soon it reached the ears of the knights at court, and in
time, Godrich himself. As he listened to the tale, there flashed across
his memory the words of the dying Athelwold: 'Find out the man who is
better and fairer and stronger than any man in the world, and give him
to be husband to my daughter.' Was there any man living stronger than
this Havelok? and could he himself be ill-spoken of if he should carry
out Athelwold's dying wish? So thought Godrich; but far back in his
heart he knew that once Goldborough was wedded to a scullion there would
be small chance of her becoming queen.

Next morning a knight mounted on a big bay horse, and attended by two
men-at-arms, might have been seen riding southwards through the fair
county of Lincoln, and in twenty days' time he returned, bringing with
him the princess. Godrich greeted her with tokens of great joy, and told
her that, as her father had bidden him, he had found at last the fairest
and strongest man in the world, and he should be her husband.

Goldborough listened quietly to his words, and when he had ended she
looked at him.

'Let him be as strong and fair as he may,' she said, 'but if he is not a
king or a king's son he is no husband for me.'

At this Godrich waxed wrath, and his whole body trembled with anger.

'Your father bade me swear to him when he was dying that you should
marry the strongest man in the world, and none other,' cried he, 'and,
by the Rood, it is he you seek to disobey, and not me. The man who is to
be your husband is the servant of my cook, and to-morrow we will have
the wedding.'

The heart of Goldborough was filled with horror when she heard the fate
that was in store for her, and she fell weeping on her knees before the
earl to implore him the rather to let her