Page:The art of story-telling, with nearly half a hundred stories, y Julia Darrow Cowles .. (IA artofstorytellin00cowl).pdf/217

 he feared to stay longer. But Robin cried after him:

"Will you not have a drink of wine before you go?"

"Nay," said the monk, "I would I had never come near you, for I should have dined far more cheaply at Blyth or Doncaster."

"Greet well your abbot and your prior for me," Robin called back, "and bid them send me such a monk as you to dinner every day."

So the monk rode away, leaving all his riches behind him; and now at last the knight came riding into the greenwood, with all his merry company. When he saw Robin he alighted from his palfrey, doffed his hood, and fell on his knee, saying:

"God save thee, Robin Hood, and all this company."

"Welcome be thou, gentle knight," Robin answered. "Hast thou thy land again?"

"Yea," said the knight, "and I thank Heaven and thee for it. But take it not amiss that I am come so late, for I have been at a wrestling match, where I helped a poor yeoman who was not getting fair play in the game."

"Sir knight," Robin answered, "I thank