["Wherat?" then sayd our kyng,]
"I pray thee tell me:"
"At such a but, syr," he sayd,
"As men use in my countree."200
Wyllyam went into a fyeld,
And his to brethren with him,
There they set vp to hasell roddes,
Twenty score paces betwene.
"I hold him an archar," said Cloudeslè,205
"That yonder wande cleveth in two:"
"Here is none suche," sayd the kyng,
"Nor none that can so do."
"I shall assaye, syr," sayd Cloudeslè,
"Or that I farther go:"210
Cloudeslè, with a bearyng arow,
Clave the wand in to.
"Thou art the best archer," then said the king,
"Forsothe that ever I se:"
"And yet for your love," said Wylliam,215
"I wyll do more maystry.
["I have a sonne is seven yere olde,]
He is to me full deare;
I wyll hym tye to a stake,
All shall se that be here;220
"And lay an apele upon hys head,
And go syxe score paces hym fro,
And I myselfe, with a brode arow,
Shall cleve the apple in two."
"Now haste the," then sayd the kyng,225
"By him that dyed on a tre;
But yf thou do not as thou [hast] sayde,
Hanged shalt thou be.
"And thou touche his head or gowne,
In syght that men may se,230
By all the sayntes that be in heaven,
I shall hange you all thre."
"That I have promised," said William,
"I wyl it never forsake;"
And there even before the kynge,235
In the earth he droue a stake,