Chapter III.
HOW IT FORTUNED TO YWAIN TO FIND A STAFF IN THE PLACE OF HIS SWORD.

THEN Ywain turned his face towards the village, and went down the hill: and he went with a good heart, for though the boy had left him, yet he hoped not to be long without him, and even now when he looked straight forward it seemed that he had the joy of his company and his laughter. But when he turned and looked beside him, there was but his own shadow; black it lay and long, and about the edges of it a brightness was shining. Then he remembered that the sun was low and night rising among the hollows, and he bethought him of his supper and sleep.

So he went quickly to the village, and passed through it and came to the farmer’s house that lay beside the great wood: and the farmwife gave him welcome, as one that knew not who he was, but could well pitch her guess within a mile or so. And she whispered to her husband, but he was hard of hearing and full of slumber from the fields. So when Ywain had supped, they showed him where he should lie. And when he was come there he laid him down, and the day went from him in a moment and he knew no more whether he were alive or dead.

But very early in the morning he awoke, and he saw that over against his face as he lay abed there was a window in the wall. And the window was open, and there came through it a small sweet noise, for it was the time of sparrow chirp, which comes just before the rising of the sun. So he rose from his bed and went to the window and leaned with his arms upon the sill, watching for the day to turn from greyness to light.

And as he leaned and watched he heard a noise of talking in the house below, for the door was right there beneath him, and it stood open wide. Moreover, the talking was loud, for they that talked were the farmer and his wife, and she spoke loud because he was hard of hearing, and he spoke yet louder because she was his wife, and he wished his saying to prevail over hers.

So she said in a high voice: As surely as an egg is an egg, by the same token this is my lord of Sulney.

Then he spoke scornfully of her and her eggs, and he asked her for what reason of all the reasons on earth should such a one as my lord of Sulney come to sup in a farmstead that was none of his, and sleep in a vile bed, when he had better within a bare league.

And she answered quickly that though a thing were clean past a man’s understanding, yet it might well happen so for all that: and further, she would have him to know that in her house were no vile beds, but such as were fit for any man to sleep in, and she cared not who he might be.

And at that he growled a little, like a dog that is made to cease barking. Then he spoke to her again, in the manner of one who deals with a child, making a show of gentleness and mastery together. See now, he said, and I will give you three reasons why you have the wrong and I have the right of it. First then, this one that has had supper and sleeping-room of us is a young man, and quick to rise and to sit down, but my lord of Sulney is past his youth and waxing heavy. Secondly, this one came to us walking upon his own shanks, and that no lord would do that had the horses of Sulney, for I have seen them time and again, and in these parts there are none better. And beside these two reasons, there is a third that you might well have seen with your own eyes, for this man’s cloak is the cloak of a pilgrim and not of a lord, and his hat and staff are such as none use but wayfarers. And if you will not believe me now, you may ask him for the truth of it yourself.

That will I do, said the woman.

Then Ywain fell into a study, for he saw that in despite of all those reasons her mind was not changed, but that she would certainly ask the truth of him. And it seemed hard to him to know what the truth might be: for he remembered how he had put off the lordship that was his, but he could not tell how he had become young, nor how he had lost his sword and come by the hat and staff of his pilgrimage: so that he thought at one moment, I am that lord, and at another, I am not, and his life past seemed like a dream of the night.

And while he was still wondering he went down the steps, and in the room that was below he saw the farmwife with bread for him to break his fast, and the man by the door; and against the wall he saw his hat and staff. And as he ate, the woman said to him: Look you, sir, we are not used to keep guests that are unknown to us. But we knew you, that you are my lord of Sulney.

Then Ywain said, I am not, and immediately the farmer slapped his hand upon his thigh and shouted at his wife. But Ywain saw the woman look at him, and he looked at her, and she smiled to him as to one that was bidding her keep a thing secret. And she said to her husband, There is no need for you to shout: for an apple may have a red side and a green, and yet it is an apple, to him that hath understanding.

Then Ywain gave her thanks, and took his leave of them both: and he went out into the sunlight, and followed the path into the high wood. But he saw nothing of his way as he went, for all his thought was upon that answer which he had given, whereby he had answered others, but in no wise answered himself.