of the wood came upon a man of religion, a clerk, riding on a hackney, to whose neck hung a horse-bell:  the priest had saddle bags beside him and carried in his right hand a book in a bag.  When he met Ralph he blessed him, and Ralph gave him the sele of the day, and asked him whither he would.  Said the Priest:  “I am for the Little Plain and the Land of Abundance; whence art thou, my son, and whither wilt thou?” “From that very land I come,” said Ralph, “and as to whither, I seek adventures; but unless I see more than I have this forenoon, or thou canst tell me of them, back will I whence I came:  yet to say sooth, I shall not be sorry for a fellow to help me back, for these woodland ways are some-what blind.”

Said the Priest:  “I will bear thee company with a good will; and I know the road right well; for I am the Vicar appointed by the fathers of the Thorn to serve the church of the Little Plain, and the chapel of St. Anthony yonder in the wood, and to-day I go to the church of the good folk there.”

So Ralph turned, and went along with him, walking by his bridle-rein.  And as they went the priest said to him:  “Art thou one of my lady’s lords?” Ralph reddened as he sighed, and said:  “I am no captain of hers.”  Then smiled the priest and said:  “Then will I not ask thee of thine errand; for belike thou wouldest not tell me thereof.”

Ralph said nought, but waxed shamefaced as he deemed that the priest eyed him curiously.  At last he said:  “I will ask thee a question in turn, father.”  “Yea,” said the priest.  Said Ralph:  “This lady of the land, the Lady of Abundance, is she a very woman?” “Holy Saints!” quoth the priest, blessing himself, “what meanest thou?” Said Ralph:  “I mean, is she of those who outwardly have a woman’s semblance, but within are of the race of the ancient devils, the gods of the Gentiles?”

Then the priest crossed himself again, and spake as solemnly as a judge on the bench:  “Son, I pray that if thou art not in thy right mind, thou will come thereinto anon.  Know this, that whatever else she may be, she is a right holy woman.  Or hast thou perchance heard any evil tales concerning her?”

Now Ralph was confused at his word, and knew not what to say; for though in his mind he had been piecing together all that he had heard of the lady both for good and for evil, he had no clear tale to tell even to himself:  so he answered nothing.

But the priest went on:  “Son, I shall tell thee that such tales I have heard, but from whose mouth forsooth?  I will tell thee; from a sort of idle jades, young women who would be thought fairer than they be, who are afraid of everything save a naked man, and who can lie easier than they can say their paternoster:  from such as these come the stories; or from old crones who live in sour anger with themselves and all else, because they have lived no goodly life in their youth, and have not learned the loveliness