58-9. 'And they were adjudged to him before his bishop against the priest', i.e. the bishop ruled that the poor man should have all the cows.
The French fabliau 'Brunain' takes up the comic rather than the moral aspect of the story. A peasant, hearing the priest say that gifts to God are doubly repaid, thought it was a favourable opportunity to give his cow Blérain—a poor milker—to the priest. The priest ties her with his own cow Brunain. To the peasant's great joy, the unprofitable Blérain returns home, leading with her the priest's good cow.
[IV]
Dialect: Northern of Yorkshire.
Inflexions: are reduced almost as in Modern English.
VERB: pres. ind. 1 sg. settes a 30; beside uninflected sygh a 69, sob a 69.
3 sg. lastes a 1.
1 pl. flese b 86: beside we drede b 85.
3 pl. lyse a 61, lufes b 7, &c.; beside þay take, þay halde b 12, &c., which agree with the Midland forms.