presence there was an
insult to royalty, seeing that he was under the Pope's ban and must make a
pilgrimage ere it could be removed.

The king, after imprisoning Isegrim, Brown, and Hintze (the chief
conspirators according to Reynard's tale), and ascertaining that the place
the fox so accurately described really existed, bade Reynard depart, and at
his request procured for him a fragment of Brown's hide to make a wallet,
and a pair of socks from Isegrim and his wife, who were very loath to part
with their foot covering. The king, queen, and court then accompanied
Reynard a short way on the first stage of his journey, and turned back,
leaving Bellyn the ram and Lampe the hare to escort him a little farther.
These innocent companions accompanied Reynard to Malepartus, and while
Bellyn waited patiently without, Lampe entered the house with Reynard. Lady
Ermelyn and her two young sons greeted Reynard with joy, listened
breathlessly to the account of his adventures, and then helped him to slay
and eat Lampe, who, he declared, had brought all these evils upon him.

Reynard and his family feasted upon the body of poor Lampe the hare, whose
head was then securely fastened in the wallet made of Brown's skin. This
the fox carefully carried out and placed upon Bellyn's back, assuring him
volubly the while that it contained important dispatches, and that in order
to insure him a suitable reward for his good offices he had told Nobel the
king that the ram had given him valuable assistance in preparing the
contents of the wallet.

"'Yet, as soon as you see the king, and to still better favor
Wish to attain with him, 'twere well to bring to his notice
That you have sagely given advice in composing the letters,
Yea, and the writer have help'd.'"

Thus instructed, and reassured concerning the absence of Lampe, whom
Reynard described as enjoying a chat with Ermelyn, Bellyn bounded off to
court, where he did not fail to vaunt that he had helped Reynard prepare
the contents of the wallet. Nobel publicly opened it, and when he drew out
Lampe's bleeding head his anger knew no bounds. Following the advice of his
courtiers, Bellyn, in spite of all his protestations, was given in
atonement to the bear and the wolf, who the king now feared had been
unjustly treated. They were then released from imprisonment and reinstated
to royal favor, and twelve days of festivity ensued.

[Sidenote: Reynard again in disgrace.] In the mids