"Fetch him his mule," said the Pilgrim; "and, hearest thou,
---let me have another, that I may bear him company till he is
beyond these parts---I will return it safely to some of Cedric's
train at Ashby. And do thou"---he whispered the rest in Gurth's
ear.

"Willingly, most willingly shall it be done," said Gurth, and
instantly departed to execute the commission.

"I wish I knew," said Wamba, when his comrade's back was turned,
"what you Palmers learn in the Holy Land."

"To say our orisons, fool," answered the Pilgrim, "to repent our
sins, and to mortify ourselves with fastings, vigils, and long
prayers."

"Something more potent than that," answered the Jester; "for when
would repentance or prayer make Gurth do a courtesy, or fasting
or vigil persuade him to lend you a mule?---I trow you might as
well have told his favourite black boar of thy vigils and
penance, and wouldst have gotten as civil an answer."

"Go to," said the Pilgrim, "thou art but a Saxon fool."

"Thou sayst well," said the Jester; "had I been born a Norman, as
I think thou art, I would have had luck on my side, and been next
door to a wise man."

At this moment Gurth appeared on the opposite side of the moat