Clym’s Stratagem
Said he: “Let us pretend to be messengers from the king, with urgent letters to the justice. Surely that should win us admission. But alas! I forgot. How can we bear out our pretence, for I am no learned clerk. I cannot write.”
Quoth Adam Bell: “I can write a good clerkly hand. Wait one instant and I will speedily have a letter written; then we can say we have the king’s seal. The plan will do well enough, for I hold the gate-keeper no learned clerk, and this will deceive him.”
Adam Bell writes the letter
Indeed, the letter which he quickly wrote and folded and sealed was very well and clearly written, and addressed to the Justice of Carlisle. Then the two bold outlaws hastened up the road and thundered on the town gates.