And with a right good will Sir Cleges gave the three strokes, and left the proud steward groaning with pain and terror. Then to the hall door Sir Cleges made his way and delivered another four, no less hearty and stinging, on the shoulders of the astonished usher.
“There, thou hast thy share!” said Sir Cleges, as he hastened to the gateway.
The porter greeted him eagerly, but he little guessed what was coming. Four times Sir Cleges lifted his staff and let it fall with all his might on the back of the greedy porter. And this last third of Sir Cleges’ boon you can be sure was not less light than the others had been.
When Sir Cleges had thus delivered the three thirds of the reward for his present, he found at his elbow a messenger from the king, who bade him return to the great hall of the castle. All the courtiers and the king were still there and were listening to a song the minstrel was singing. Now this song, as it happened, was made about Sir Cleges himself, and the minstrel was telling how this generous knight had spent all his days making other people happy and now was altogether lost and forgotten.
“Poor Sir Cleges!” sighed the king, “I loved him well, but alas! I have no hope ever again to see him.”
Just then, however, Sir Cleges knelt down before the king and thanked him for the reward he had given him, and told him that the twelve strokes had been duly delivered.
“But I beseech thee, good fellow,” answered the king, “tell me what the meaning of this may be. Why were these strokes on the shoulders of my varlets more pleasing to thee than a reward of gold or silver?”
Then Sir Cleges told the king how the porter, the usher, and the steward had each demanded a third of his reward before they would permit him to make his present, and he added, “May they learn thus to be more free in giving and less greedy in demanding. Perchance the next poor man may not find it so hard to come into the king’s presence.”
When the king and his courtiers heard all this, they laughed, and were delighted with the story.
“Well done,” said the king, “thou wielder of the staff! Thou hast taught these knaves a good lesson. How now, master steward, how likest thou thy share of this fellow’s present?”