VIII
‘Lacketh me neither gold ne fee
Ne none rich weed;
There is a child in Bethlehem born
Shall helpen us at our need.’—
IX
‘That is all so sooth, Stephen,
All so sooth, I-wys,
As this capon crowè shall
That li’th here in my dish.’
X
That word was not so soon said,
That word in that hall,
The capon crew Christus natus est
Among the lordès all.
XI
‘Risit[605] up, my tormentors,
By two and all by one,
And leadit Stephen out of this town,
And stonit him with stone.’
XII
Tooken they Stephen
And stoned him in the way;
And therefore is his even
On Christe’s own day.