A goose they dight to their dinner
In a tavern where they were.
King Richard the fire bet;
Thomas to the spit him set;
Fouk Doyley tempered the wood:
Dear abought they that good!
When they had drunken well, a fin,
A minstralle com theirin,
And said, "Gentlemen, wittily,
Will ye have any minstrelsy?"
Richard bade that she should go;
That turned him to mickle woe!
The minstralle took in mind,[1]
And said, "Ye are men unkind;
And, if I may, ye shall for-think[2]
Ye gave me neither meat ne drink.
For gentlemen should bede
To minstrels that abouten yede,
Of their meat, wine, and ale;
For los[3] rises of minstrale."
She was English, and well true,
By speech, and sight, and hide, and hue.
Ellis's Specimens of early English Metrical Romances.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Was offended.
[2] Repent.
[3] Reputation, glory.
NOTE IV.
On which the slightest touch alone would kill.—p. 24. l. 6.
An unfortunate mistake in printing the word trill instead of kill, has made this appear ridiculous: it alludes to the old proverb—
You should neither tell friend nor foe
Where life-blood go.