The Well at the World's End: A Tale

by William Morris

  CHAPTER 22

  Ralph Talks With Bull Shockhead

  When they rode on again, Ralph rode beside Bull, who was merry andblithe now he was full of meat and drink; and he spake anon: "So thouart a king's son, master? I deemed from the first that thou wert oflineage. For as for these churls of chapmen, and the sworders whomthey wage, they know not the name of their mother's mother, nor haveheard one word of the beginner of their kindred; and their deeds arelike unto their kinlessness."

  "And are thy deeds so good?" said Ralph. "Are they ill," said Bull,"when they are done against the foemen?" Said Ralph: "And are all menyour foemen who pass through these mountains?" "All," said Bull, "butthey be of the kindred or their known friends."

  "Well, Bull," said Ralph, "I like thy deeds little, that thou shouldestravish men and women from their good life, and sell them for a priceinto toil and weariness and stripes."

  Said Bull: "How much worse do we than the chapmen by his debtor, andthe lord of the manor by his villein?" Said Ralph: "Far worse, if yedid but know it, poor men!" Quoth Bull: "But I neither know it, norcan know it, nay, not when thou sayest it; for it is not so. And lookyou, master, this life of a bought thrall is not such an exceeding evillife; for oft they be dealt with softly and friendly, and have otherthralls to work for them under their whips."

  Ralph laughed: "Which shall I make thee, friend Bull, the upper or theunder?" Bull reddened, but said naught. Said Ralph: "Or where shall Isell thee, that I may make the best penny out of my good luck andvaliancy?" Bull looked chopfallen: "Nay," said he in a wheedlingvoice, "thou wilt not sell me, thou? For I deem that thou wilt be agood master to me: and," he broke into sudden heat hereat, "if I haveanother master I shall surely slay him whate'er betide."

  Ralph laughed again, and said: "Seest thou what an evil craft yefollow, when thou deemest it better to be slain with bitter torments(as thou shouldest be if thou slewest thy master) than to be sold toany master save one exceeding good?"

  Bull held his peace hereat, but presently he said: "Well, be our craftgood or evil, it is gainful; and whiles there is prey taken right good,which, for my part, I would not sell, once I had my hand thereon.""Yea, women?" said Ralph. "Even so," said Bull, "such an one was takenby my kinsman Bull Nosy but a little while agone, whom he took down tothe market at Cheaping Knowe, as I had not done if I had once my armsabout her. For she was as fair as a flower; and yet so well built,that she could bear as much as a strong man in some ways; and, saithNosy, when she was taken, there was no weeping or screeching in her,but patience rather and quietness, and intent to bear all andlive....Master, may I ask thee a question?" "Ask on," said Ralph.Said Bull: "The pair of beads about thy neck, whence came they?" "Theywere the gift of a dear friend," said Ralph. "A woman?" quoth Bull."Yea," said Ralph.

  "Now is this strange," said Bull, "and I wot not what it may betoken,but this same woman had about her neck a pair of beads as like to thineas if they had been the very same: did this woman give thee the beads?For I will say this of thee, master, that thou art well nigh as likelya man as she is a woman."

  Ralph sighed, for this talk of the woman and the beads brought all thestory into his mind, so that it was as if he saw it adoing again: theLady of the Wildwood led along to death before he delivered her, andtheir flight together from the Water of the Oak, and that murder of herin the desert. And betwixt the diverse deeds of the day this had oflate become somewhat dim to him. Yet after his grief came joy thatthis man also had seen the damsel, whom his dream of the night hadcalled Dorothea, and that he knew of her captors; wherefore by hismeans he might come on her and deliver her.

  Now he spake aloud: "Nay, it was not she that gave them to me, but yetwere I fain to find this woman that thou sawest; for I look to meet afriend whenas I meet her. So tell me, dost thou think that I maycheapen her of thy kinsman?"

  Bull shook his head, and said: "It may be: or it may be that he hathalready sold her to one who heedeth not treasure so much as fair flesh;and fair is hers beyond most. But, lord, I will do my best to find herfor thee; as thou art a king's son and no ill master, I deem."

  "Do that," quoth Ralph, "and I in turn will do what more I may for theebesides making thee free." And therewith he rode forward that he mightget out of earshot, for Bull's tongue seemed like to be long. Andpresently he heard laughter behind him, as the carle began jesting andtalking with the chapman lads.