And how
that the said wood-wife had never appeared to her but as an image and
double of herself, save on the time when she played the leech to him.
Then she told him how all had gone when the wood-wife had sought him
out for the fulfilment of their love, and of the dreadful day when
they had come upon him out of his wit and but little manlike.
Then she asked, would he, within the next day or two, that they
should go see the wood-wife together and thank her for her help, and
bring him within the ring of her love and guarding; and he yeasaid it
with a good will.
After this she would have him tell her of how things had gone with
him since that evil day when he had come home from the Castle of the
Quest and found her gone. So he told her somewhat, and of his dole
and misery, and his dealings with the foemen of Greenford; but yet
scantly, and as one compelled; and at last he said:
Dear love, since thou art cossetting me with all solace of caresses,
I pray thee remember my trouble and grief, how sore they were, and do
with me as with a sick man getting well, as I wot surely thou
wouldest do; and do thou that which is at this present the softest
and merriest to me, and that forsooth is, that thou shouldest talk
and tell, and I should hearken the sweetness of the music, and only
here and there put in a word to rest thee and make thy tale the
sweeter.
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