L
‘Nay, I am not sleeping, I am waking,’
These were the words said hee;
‘Ffor thee I have car’d; how hast thou fared?
O gentle knight, let me see.’
LI
The knight wrought the king his booke,
Bad him behold, reede and see;
And ever he found it on the back of the leafe
As noble Arthur wo’ld wish it to be.
LII
And then bespake him King Arthur,
‘Alas! thow gentle knight, how may this be,
That I might see him in the same licknesse
That he stood unto thee?’
LIII
And then bespake him the Greene Knight,
These were the words said hee:
‘If you’le stand stifly in the battell stronge,
For I have won all the victory.’
LIV
Then bespake him the king againe,
And these were the words said hee:
‘If wee stand not stifly in this battell strong,
Wee are worthy to be hang’d on a tree.’