"And beef have I from the heathery words,
And mutton from dales all green,
And veal as white as a maiden's brow,
With its mother's milk, I ween.

"Then come, ye lasses, and eke ye dames,
Come, buy your meat from me,
For three pennyworths of meat I sell
For the charge of one penny."

Thus he sang blithely, while all who stood near listened amazedly. Then,
when he had finished, he clattered the steel and cleaver still more
loudly, shouting lustily, "Now, who'll buy? Who'll buy? Four fixed
prices have I. Three pennyworths of meat I sell to a fat friar or priest
for sixpence, for I want not their custom; stout aldermen I charge
threepence, for it doth not matter to me whether they buy or not; to
buxom dames I sell three pennyworths of meat for one penny for I like
their custom well; but to the bonny lass that hath a liking for a good
tight butcher I charge nought but one fair kiss, for I like her custom
the best of all."

Then all began to stare and wonder and crowd around, laughing, for never
was such selling heard of in all Nottingham Town; but when they came to
buy they found it as he had said, for he gave goodwife or dame as much
meat for one penny as they could buy elsewhere for three, and when a
widow or a poor woman came to him, he gave her flesh for nothing; but
when a merry lass came and gave him a kiss, he charged not one penny for
his meat; and many such came to his stall, for his eyes were as blue as
the skies of June, and he laughed merrily, giving to each full measure.
Thus he sold his meat so fast that no butcher that stood near him could