Alas! treason, cried Alice,
Ever woe may thou be!
Go into my chamber, husband, she said,
Sweet William of Cloudesly.
He took his sword and his buckler,
His bow and his children three,
And went into his strongest chamber,
Where he thought surest to be.
Fair Alice, like a lover true,
Took a pollaxe in her hand:
Said, He shall die that cometh in
This door, while I may stand.
Cloudesly bent a right good bow,
That was of a trusty tree,
He smote the justice on the breast,
That his arrow burst in three.
WILLIAM OF CLOUDESLY.
A curse on his heart, said William,
This day thy coat put on!
If it had been no better than mine,
That had gone near thy bone.
Yield thee, Cloudesly, said the justice,
And thy bow and thy arrows thee fro'.
A curse on his heart, said fair Alice,
That my husband counselleth so.