"That is an unready way," said our king, "Thou doest but jest, I see; Now show me out the nearest way, And I pray thee wend with me."-- "Away with a vengeance!" quoth the tanner: "I hold thee out of thy wit: All day have I ridden on Brock my mare, And I am fasting yet."-- "Go with me down to Drayton Basset, No dainties we will spare; All day shalt thou eat and drink of the best, And I will pay thy fare."-- "Gram-ercy for nothing," the tanner replied, "Thou payest no fare of mine: I trow I've more nobles in my purse, Than thou hast pence in thine."-- "God give thee joy of them," said the king, "And send them well to prief."-- The tanner would fain have been away, For he weened he had been a thief. "What art thou," he said, "thou fine fell-ow? Of thee I am in great fear, For the clothes thou wearest upon thy back Might beseem a lord to wear."-- "I never stole them," quoth our king, "I tell you, sir, by the rood."-- "Then thou playest, as many an unthrift doth, And standest in midst of thy good."-- "What tidings hear you," said the king. "As you ride far and near?"-- "I hear no tidings, sir, by the mass, But that cow-hides are dear."-- "Cow-hides! cow-hides! what things are those? I marvel what they be!"-- "What, art thou a fool?" the tanner replied; "I carry one under me."-- "What craftsman art thou?" said the king, "I pray thee tell me trow."-- "I am a barker, sir, by my trade. Now tell me what art thou?"-- "I am a poor courtier, sir," quoth he, "That am forth of service worn; And fain I would thy 'prentice be, Thy cunning for to learn."-- "Marry, heaven forfend," the tanner replied, "That thou my 'prentice were! Thou'dst spend more good than I should win, By forty shilling a year."-- "Yet one thing would I," said our king, "If thou wilt not seem strange: Though my horse be better than thy mare, Yet with thee I fain would change."-- "Why, if with me thou fain wilt change, As change full well may we, By the faith of my body, thou proud fell-ow I will have some boot of thee."-- "That were against reason," said the king, "I swear, so mote I thee: My horse is better than thy mare, And that thou well may'st see."-- "Yea, sir, but Brock is gentle and mild, And softly she will fare; Thy horse is unruly and wild, i-wis; Aye skipping here and there."-- "What boot wilt thou have?" our king replied; "Now tell me in this stound."-- "No pence, nor halfpence, by my fay, But a noble in gold so round."--