Lord Ralph, and of the way thither. But I hung about the township
yet a while, and yesterday as I stood on their stone bridge,
and looked on the water, up comes that long lad with the
yellow hair that the dame had pointed at, and says to me:
'Master Richard, saving thine age and thy dignity and mastery,
I can join an end to the tale which the carline began on
Sunday night.' 'Yea, forsooth?' said I, 'and how, my lad?'
Said he: 'Thou hast a goodly knife there in thy girdle,
give it to me, and I will tell thee.' 'Yea,' quoth I,
'if thy tale be knife-worthy.'

"Well, the end of it was that he told me thus:
That by night and moon he came on one riding the highway,
just about where the other woman had been seen, whose tale
he had heard of. He deemed at first this rider to be a man,
or a lad rather for smallness and slenderness, but coming close
up he found it was a woman, and saw on her neck a chaplet
of gems, and deemed it no great feat to take it of her:
but he asked her of whence and whither, and she answered:

"'From unrest to the Well at the World's End.'

"Then when he put out his hand to her, he saw a great anlace gleaming
in her hand, wherefore he forbore her; and this was but five days ago.

"So I gave the lad my knife, and deemed there would be little else
to hear in Swevenham for this bout; and at least I heard no more tales
to tell till I came away this morning; so there is my poke turned
inside out for thee. But this word further would I say to thee,
that I have seen on thy neck also a pair of beads exceeding goodly.