CXIV
The usher sayde, ‘Yemen, what wold ye have?
I pray you tell to me.
You myght thus make offycers shent[693]:
Good syrs, of whence be ye?’—
CXV
‘Syr, we be outlawes of the forest,
Certayne withouten lease;
And hether we be come to the Kyng,
To get us a charter of peace.’
CXVI
And whan they came before our Kynge,
As it was the lawe of the lande,
They knelèd downe without lettyng[694],
And eche held up his hand.
CXVII
They sayd, ‘Lord, we beseche you here
That ye wyll graunt us grace;
For we have slayne your fat falowe dere
In many a sondry place.’
CXVIII
‘What be your names,’ then said our Kynge,
‘Anone that you tell me?’—
They sayd, ‘Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough,
And Wyllyam of Cloudesley.’—