XXV
‘For I durst sweare, and save my othe,
That same lady soe bright,
That a man that were laid on his death bed
Wo’ld open his eyes on her to have sight.’—
‘Now, by my faith,’ sayes noble King Arthur,
‘And that’s a full faire wight!’
XXVI
And then bespake Cornewall [King] againe,
And these were the words he said:
‘Come hither, five or three of my knights,
And feitch me downe my steed;
King Arthur, that foule cockeward,
Hath none such, if he had need.
XXVII
‘For I can ryde him as far on a day
As King Arthur can any of his on three;
And is it not a pleasure for a king
When he shall ryde forth on his journèy?
XXVIII
‘For the eyes that beene in his head,
They glister as doth the gleed[180].’
‘Now, by my faith,’ says noble King Arthur,
‘That is a well faire steed.’
After showing them other of his possessions, King Cornwall has the strangers conducted to bed; but first takes the precaution to conceal the Burlow Beanie, or Billy Blind—friendly household spirit—in a rubbish-barrel by the bedside, to listen and overhear their conversation.