'
'Thou liest,' said Penny-thumb; 'they took little and left none.'
Thereat all men laughed, for this seemed to them good game, and
another man said: 'Well, neighbour Penny-thumb, if it was so little,
thou hast done unneighbourly in giving us such a heap of trouble
about it.'
And they laughed again, but the first carle said: 'True it is,
goodman, that thou wert exceeding eager to raise the hue and cry
after that little when we happed upon thee and thy housemates bound
in your chairs yesterday morning. Well, Alderman's son, short is the
tale to tell: we could not fail to follow the gear, and the slot led
us into the wood, and ill is the going there for us shepherds, who
are used to the bare downs, save Rusty, who was a good woodsman and
lifted the slot for us; so he outwent us all, and ran out of sight of
us, so presently we came upon him dead-slain, with the manslayer's
spear in his breast. What then could we do but turn back again, for
now was the wood blind now Rusty was dead, and we knew not whither to
follow the fray; and the man himself was but little loss: so back we
turned, and told goodman Penny-thumb of all this, for we had left him
alone in his hall lamenting his gear; so we bided to-day's morn, and
have come out now, with our neighbour and the spear, and the dead
corpse of Rusty.
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