And never to come home.”
No sooner is Richard Malvine gone than the wife sends for the parson, and to him she says:—
“Pray feast with me;
I have good ale, bread fresh and bread stale,
And withal a venison pasty.
And merry we’ll drink and eat and dance,
Right merry I trow we’ll be.”
Now Richard Malvine had a man who was trusty. And so soon as the miller went forth, the man pursued him, caught him up, and said:—
“O master, good Richard Malvine,
Thou art not gone far from here.