king,
And my sheriff also?
Sir, they be slain, without lesynge,
And many an officer mo'.

Who hath them slain, said the king;
Anon thou tell to me?
Adam Bell, and Clym of the Clough,
And William of Cloudesly.

Alas for ruth! then said our king:
My heart is wondrous sore;
I had rather than a thousand pound,
I had known of this before;

For I have granted them grace,
And that forthinketh me:
But had I known all this before,
They had been hanged all three.

The king he opened the letter anon,
Himself he read it thro',
And found how these outlaws had slain
Three hundred men and mo':

First the justice, and the sheriff,
And the mayor of Carlisle town;
Of all the constables and catchpolls
Alive were scarce left one:

The baillies, and the beadles both,
And the sergeants of the law,
And forty foresters of the fee,[68]
These outlaws had yslaw.[69]

And broke his parks, and slain his deer;
Of all they chose the best;
Such perilous outlaws, as they were,
Walked not by east nor west.

When the king this letter had read,
In his heart he sighed sore:
Take up the tables anon he said,
For I may eat no more.

The king called his best archers
To the butts with him to go:
I will see these fellows shoot, he said,
In the north have wrought this woe.

The king's bowmen buske[70] them blyve,[71]
And the queen's archers also;
So did these three wighty yeomen;
With them they thought to go.

There twice or thrice they shot about
For to assay their hand;
There was no shot these yeomen shot,
That any prick might stand.

Then spake William of Cloudesly;
By Him that for me died,
I hold him never no good archer,
That shooteth at butts so wide.

At what a butt now would you shoot,
I pray thee tell to me?
At such a butt, sir, he said,
As men use in my country.

William went into a field,
And with him his two brethren:
There they set up two hazel rods
Twenty score paces between.

I hold him an archer, said Cloudesly,
That yonder wand cleaveth in two.
Here is none such, said the king,
Nor none that can so do.

I shall assay, sir, said Cloudesly,
Or that I farther go.
Cloudesly with a b