Now this being done, away he did run
To the stranger, and merrily spoke :
Lo ! see my staff is lusty and tough,
Now here on the bridge we will play ;
Whoever falls in, the other shall win
The battle, and so we’ll away. {293}
With all my whole heart, the stranger reply’d,
I scorn in the least to give out ;
This said, they fell to’t without more dispute,
And their staffs they did flourish about.