'At what a butte now wold ye shote,'
I pray thee tell to me?
At suche a but, syr, he sayd,
As men use in my countree.200
Wyllyam wente into a fyeld,
And 'with him' his two brethren:[770]
There they set up two hasell roddes[771][770]
Twenty score paces betwene.[772]
I hold him an archar, said Cloudeslè,205
That yonder wande cleveth in two.
Here is none suche, sayd the kyng,
Nor no man can so do.[773]
I shall assaye, syr, sayd Cloudeslè,
Or that I farther go.210
Cloudesly with a bearyng arowe[774]
Clave the wand in two.[770]
Thou art the best archer, then said the king,
Forsothe that ever I se.
And yet for your love, sayd Wyllyam,215
I wyll do more maystery.[775]
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 apple upon hys head,
And go syxe score paces hym fro,[776]
And I my selfe with a brode aròw
Shall cleve the apple in two.
Now haste the, then sayd the kyng,225
By hym that dyed on a tre,
But yf thou do not, as thou hest sayde,
Hanged shalt thou be.
And thou touche his head or gowne,
In fyght 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,
That I wyll never forsake.
And there even before the kynge235
In the earth he drove a stake: