Here's twenty groats out of my purse;
And twenty I have of thine:
And I have one more, which we will spend
Together at the wine.
The king set a bugle horn to his mouth,
And blew both loud and shrill:
And soon came lords, and soon came knights,
Fast riding over the hill.
Now, out alas! the tanner he cried,
That ever I saw this day!
Thou art a strong thief, yon come thy fellows
Will bear my cow-hide away.
They are no thieves, the king replied,
I swear, so mote I thee:
But they are the lords of the north country,
Here come to hunt with me.
And soon before our king they came,
And knelt down on the ground:
Then might the tanner have been away,
He had lever[95] than twenty pound.
A collar, a collar, here: said the king,
A collar he loud 'gan cry:
Then would he lever than twenty pound,
He had not been so nigh.
A collar, a collar, the tanner he said,
I trow it will breed sorrow:
After a collar cometh a halter,
I trow I shall be hang'd to-morrow.
Be not afraid, tanner, said our king;
I tell thee, so mote I thee,
Lo here I make thee the best esquire
That is in the north country.
For Plumpton-park I will give thee,
With tenements fair beside:
'Tis worth three hundred marks by the year,
To maintain thy good cow-hide.
Gramercy, my liege, the tanner replied,
For the favour thou hast me shown:
If ever thou comest to merry Tamwòrth,
Neat's[96] leather shall clout thy shoen.[97]