The next morning the miller, the good wife, and Richard came out to see the hunter on his way. Just then a party of nobles rode up.
"There's the king!" cried one.
"Pardon, your majesty!" cried another, and all fell upon their knees before the hunter.
The miller stood shaking and quaking, and for once his wife could not speak. The king, with a grave face, drew his sword, but not a word did he say.
The terrified miller threw himself at his ruler's feet, crying out for mercy. Again the sword was raised, and down it fell, but lightly, upon the miller's shoulder, and the king said:
"Your kind courtesy I will repay; so I here dub thee Knight. Rise, Sir John of Mansfield."
For many a day the miller and his wife told of the night the king spent with them. And for many a day the king told of the time he was taken for a thief and ate of his own deer in the miller's house.
—ENGLISH BALLAD (Adapted).