3
‘Ye are welcome home, my rich merchantes,
The best salers in Christentie!’
‘We thanke yowe; by the rood, we are salers good,
But rich merchantes we cannot be.
4
‘To France nor Flanders we der not goe,
Nor a Burgesse voy[a]ge we der not fare,
For a robber that lyes abrod on the sea,
And robs us of oure merchantes-ware.’