But on þat he nouth wit his hend
Ne drepe him nouth,[27] þat fule fend!
Þoucte he, als he him bi stod,
Starinde als he were wod:
But he reflects
“Yif y late him liues go,
He micte me wirchen michel wo.
Grith ne get y neuere mo,
He may [me] waiten for to slo;
that, were Havelok dead, his children would be the heirs.