Chapter II: Part THE FIRST

Merry it was in the green forest
Among the leaves green,
Wherein men hunt east and west
With bows and arrows keen;

To raise the deer out of their den;
Such sights hath oft been seen;
As by three yeomen of the north countrey,
By them it is I mean.

The one of them hight[36] Adam Bell,
The other Clym of the Clough,
The third was William of Cloudesly,
An archer good enough.

They were outlawed for venison,
These yeomen everyone;
They swore together upon a day,
To English wood to be gone.

Now lithe and listen, gentlemen,
That of mirth loveth to hear:
Two of them were single men,
The third had a wedded fere.[37]

William was the wedded man,
Much more then was his care:
He said to his brethren upon a day,
To Carlisle he would fare,[38]

For to speak with fair Alice his wife,
And with his children three.
By my troth, said Adam Bell,
Not by the counsel of me:

For if ye go to Carlisle, brother,
And from this wild wood wend,
If that the justice should you take,
Your life were at an end.

If that I come not to-morrow, brother,
By pryme[39] to you again,
Trust you then that I am taken
Or else that I am slain.

He took his leave of his brethren two,
And to Carlisle he is gone:
There he knock'd at his own window
Shortly and anon.

Where be you, fair Alice, he said,
My wife and children three?
Lightly let in thine own husband,
William of Cloudesly.

Alas! then said fair Alice,
And sighed wondrous sore,
This place hath been beset for you
This half a year and more.

Now am I here, said Cloudesly,
I would that in I were:
Now fetch us meat and drink enough,
And let us make good cheer.

She fetched him meat and drink plenty,
Like a true wedded wife;
And pleased him with that she had,
Whom she loved as her life.

There lay an old wife in that place,
A little beside the fire,
Which William had found of charity
More than seven year.

Up she rose, and forth she goes,
Evil may she speed therefore;
For she had set no foot on ground
In seven year before.

She went unto the justice hall,
As fast as she could hie:
This night, she said, is come to town
William of Cloudesly.

Thereat the justice was full fayne,[40]
And so was the sheriff also:
Thou shalt not travel hither, dame, for nought;
Thy meed thou shalt have ere thou go.

They gave to her a right good gown
Of scarlet, and of grain:[41]
She took the gift, and home she went,
And couched her down again.

They raised the town of merry Carlisle
In all the haste they can;
And came thronging to William's house,
As fast as they might ran.

There they beset that good yeoman
Round about on every side:
William heard great noise of folks
That thither-ward fast hied.

Alice opened a back window
And looked all about,
She was 'ware of the justice and sheriff both,
And with them a great rout.

Alas! treason, cried Alice,
Ever woe may thou be!
Go into my chamber, husband, she said,
Sweet William of Cloudesly.

He took his sword and his buckler,
His bow and his children three,
And went into his strongest chamber,
Where he thought surest to be.

Fair Alice, like a lover true,
Took a pollaxe in her hand:
Said, He shall die that cometh in
This door, while I may stand.

Cloudesly bent a right good bow,
That was of a trusty tree,
He smote the justice on the breast,
That his arrow burst in three.

A curse on his heart, said William,
This day thy coat put on!
If it had been no better than mine,
That had gone near thy bone.

Yield thee, Cloudesly, said the justice,
And thy bow and thy arrows thee fro'.
A curse on his heart, said fair Alice,
That my husband counselleth so.

Set fire on the house, said the sheriff,
Since it will no better be,
And burn we therein William, he said,
His wife and children three.

They fired the house in many a place,
The fire flew up on high:
Alas! then cried fair Alice,
I see we here shall die.

William opened a back window,
That was in his chamber hi',
And there with sheets he did let down
His wife and children three.

Have you here my treasure, said William,
My wife and my children three:
For Christ's love do them no harm,
But wreak you all on me.

William shot so wondrous well,
Till his arrows were all ago',
And the fire so fast upon him fell
That his bowstring burnt in two.

The sparkles burnt and fell upon
Good William of Cloudesly:
Then was he a woeful man, and said,
This is a coward's death to me.

Liever had I, said William,
With my sword in the route to run,
Than here among mine enemies wode[42]
Thus cruelly to burn.

He took his sword and his buckler,
And among them all he ran:
Where the people were most in prece,[43]
He smote down many a man.

There might no man abide his strokes,
So fiercely on them he ran:
Then they threw windows, and doors on him,
And so took that good yeoman.

There they him bound both hand and foot,
And in deep dungeon him cast:
Now Cloudesly, said the justice,
Thou shalt be hanged in haste.

A pair of new gallows, said the sheriff,
Now shall I for thee make;
And the gates of Carlisle shall be shut:
No man shall come in thereat.

Then shall not help Clym of the Clough,
Nor yet shall Adam Bell,
Though they came with a thousand more,
Nor all the devils in hell.

Early in the morning the justice uprose,
To the gates first gan he to gon',
And commanded to be shut full close
Lightly every one.

Then went he to the market place,
As fast as he could hie;
There a pair of new gallows he set up
Beside the pillory.

A little boy among them asked,
What meaneth that gallows-tree?
They said to hang a good yeoman,
Called William of Cloudesly.

That little boy was the town swine-herd,
And kept fair Alice's swine;
Oft he had seen William in the wood,
And given him there to dine.

He went out at a crevice in the wall,
And lightly to the wood did gon';
There met he with these wight yeomen
Shortly and anon.

Alas! then said that little boy,
Ye tarry here all too long;
Cloudesly is taken, and dampned[44] to death,
All ready for to hong.[45]

Alas! then said good Adam Bell,
That ever we see this day!
He had better with us have tarried,
So oft as we did him pray.

He might have dwelt in green forest,
Under the shadows green,
And have kept both him and us at rest,
Out of all trouble and teen.[46]

Adam bent a right good bow,
A great hart soon he had slain;
Take that, child, he said, to thy dinner,
And bring me mine arrow again.

Now go we hence, said these wight yeomen,
Tarry we no longer here;
We shall him borrow[47] by God his grace,
Though we buy it full dear.

To Carlisle went these bold yeomen,
All in the morning of May.
Here is a FYT[48] of Cloudesly,
And another is for to say.