‘Why then,’ quoth the knight, ‘hap better or worse,
I weigh not true love by the weight of the purse,
And beauty is beauty in every degree,
Then welcome to me, my dear pretty Bessee.
‘With thee to thy father forthwith I will go.’
‘Nay, forbear,’ quoth his kinsman, ‘it must not be so:
A poor beggar’s daughter a lady shan’t be;
Then take thy adieu of thy pretty Bessee.’
As soon then as it was break of the day,
The knight had from Rumford stole Bessee away;
The young men of Rumford, so sick as may be,
Rode after to fetch again pretty Bessee.
As swift as the wind to ride they were seen,
Until they came near unto Bednall Green,
And as the knight lighted most courteously,
They fought against him for pretty Bessee.
But rescue came presently over the plain,
Or else the knight there for his love had been slain;
The fray being ended, they straightway did see
His kinsman come railing at pretty Bessee.
Then bespoke the blind beggar, ‘Although I be poor,
Rail not against my child at my own door,
Though she be not deckèd in velvet and pearl,
Yet I will drop angels with thee for my girl;
‘And then if my gold should better her birth,
And equal the gold you lay on the earth,
Then neither rail you, nor grudge you to see
The blind beggar’s daughter a lady to be.
‘But first, I will hear, and have it well known,
The gold that you drop it shall be all your own.’
With that they replièd, ‘Contented we be!’
‘Then here’s,’ quoth the beggar, ‘for pretty Bessee!’
With that an angel he dropped on the ground,
And droppèd, in angels, full three thousand pound;
And oftentimes it proved most plain,
For the gentleman’s one, the beggar dropped twain;
So that the whole place wherein they did sit,
With gold was coverèd every whit.
The gentleman having dropped all his store,
Said, ‘Beggar! your hand hold, for I have no more.’