orribly again, and then said: "But thou, fool,
wilt think It fair if thou fallest into Its hands, and wilt repent it
thereafter, as I did. Oh, the mocking and gibes of It, and the tears and
shrieks of It; and the knife! What! sayest thou of my Lady?--What Lady?
O alien, what other Lady is there? And what shall I tell thee of her? it
is like that she made me, as she made the Bear men. But she made not the
Wretch, the Thing; and she hateth It sorely, as I do. And some day to
come--"

Thereat he brake off and fell to wordless yelling a long while, and
thereafter spake all panting: "Now I have told thee overmuch, and O if my
Lady come to hear thereof. Now I will go."

And therewith he took out two more loaves from his wallet, and tossed
them to Walter, and so turned and went his ways; whiles walking upright,
as Walter had seen his image on the quay of Langton; whiles bounding and
rolling like a ball thrown by a lad; whiles scuttling along on all-fours
like an evil beast, and ever and anon giving forth that harsh and evil
cry.

Walter sat a while after he was out of sight, so stricken with horror and
loathing and a fear of he knew not what, that he might not move. Then he
plucked up a heart, and looked to his weapons and put the other loaves
into his scrip.

Then he arose and went his ways wondering, yea and dreading, what kind of
creature he should next fall in with. For soothly it seemed to him that
it would be worse than death if they were all such as this one; and that
if it were so, he must needs slay and be slain.

CHAPTER X: WALTER HAPPENETH ON ANOTHER CREATURE IN THE STRANGE LAND

But as he went on through the fair and sweet land so bright and
sun-litten, and he now rested and fed, the horror and fear ran off from
him, and he wandered on merrily, neither did aught befall him save the
coming of night, when he laid him down under a great spreading oak with
his drawn sword ready to hand, and fell asleep at once, and woke not till
the sun was high.

Then he arose and went on his way again; and the land was no worser than
yesterday; but even better, it might be; the greensward more flowery, the
oaks and chestnuts greater. Deer of diverse kinds he saw, and might
easily have got his meat thereof; but he meddled not with them since he
had his bread, and was timorous of lighting a fire. Withal he doubted
little of having some entertainment; and that, might be, nought evil;
since even that fearful dwa