‘And I must bring him word what thing it is
[That a woman will most desire].
Arthur, having collected and written down many answers to the baron’s riddle, was true to his promise, thus—
XIV
Then king Arthur drest him for to ryde,
In one soe rich array,
Toward the fore-said Tearne Wadling,
That he might keepe his day.
XV
And as he rode over a more,
Hee see a lady where shee sate
Betwixt an oke and a greene hollen[191];
She was cladd in red scarlett.
XVI
Then thereas shold have stood her mouth,
Then there was sett her eye;
The other was in her forhead fast,
The way that she might see.
XVII
Her nose was crooked and turn’d outward,
Her mouth stood foule a-wry;
A worse form’d lady than shee was,
Never man saw with his eye.