The one of them hight[36] Adam Bell,
The other Clym of the Clough,
The third was William of Cloudesly,
An archer good enough.
They were outlawed for venison,
These yeomen everyone;
They swore together upon a day,
To English wood to be gone.
Now lithe and listen, gentlemen,
That of mirth loveth to hear:
Two of them were single men,
The third had a wedded fere.[37]
William was the wedded man,
Much more then was his care:
He said to his brethren upon a day,
To Carlisle he would fare,[38]
For to speak with fair Alice his wife,
And with his children three.
By my troth, said Adam Bell,
Not by the counsel of me:
For if ye go to Carlisle, brother,
And from this wild wood wend,
If that the justice should you take,
Your life were at an end.
If that I come not to-morrow, brother,
By pryme[39] to you again,
Trust you then that I am taken
Or else that I am slain.
He took his leave of his brethren two,
And to Carlisle he is gone:
There he knock'd at his own window
Shortly and anon.
Where be you, fair Alice, he said,
My wife and children three?
Lightly let in thine own husbànd,
William of Cloudesly.
Alas! then said fair Alice,
And sighed wondrous sore,
This place hath been beset for you
This half a year and more.