and knowest not? doth thy friend lie sick between life and death?"
"O Sir," she said, "it is the Wood which is the evil and disease."

"What wood is that?" said he.

She said: "The Wood Perilous, that lieth betwixt us and the Burg
of the Four Friths, and all about the Burg. And, Sir, if ye
be minded to ride to the Burg to-day, do it not, for through
the wood must thou wend thereto; and ye are young and lovely.
Therefore take my rede, and abide till the Chapmen wend thither
from Higham, who ride many in company. For, look you, fair lord,
ye have asked of my grief, and this it is and nought else;
that my very earthly love and speech-friend rode five days
ago toward the Burg of the Four Friths all alone through
the Wood Perilous, and he has not come back, though we looked
to see him in three days' wearing: but his horse has come back,
and the reins and the saddle all bloody."

And she fell a-weeping with the telling of the tale. But Ralph said
(for he knew not what to say): "Keep a good heart, maiden; maybe he is safe
and sound; oft are young men fond to wander wide, even as I myself."

She looked at him hard and said: "If thou hast stolen
thyself away from them that love thee, thou hast done amiss.
Though thou art a lord, and so fair as I see thee, yet will I
tell thee so much."

Ralph reddened and answered nought; but deemed the maiden both fair
and sweet. But she said: "Whether thou hast done well or ill, do no worse;
but abide till the Chapmen come from Higham, on their way to the Burg