Whereon there looked up into his face such a demon (so he said) as
he never had seen or dreamed of, and said:
"If you lay a finger on me, I will brittle you like any deer." And
therewith pulled out a saying-knife, about half as long again as the said
priest's hand, being very sharp, so he deposed, down the whole length of
one edge, and likewise down his little finger's length of the other.
Not being versed in the terms of English venery, he asked Abbot Ulfketyl
what brittling of a deer might mean; and being informed that it was that
operation on the carcass of a stag which his countrymen called
_eventrer_, and Highland gillies now "gralloching," he subsided, and
thought it best to go and consult the young lady's mother.
She, to his astonishment, submitted at once and utterly. The King, and he
whom she had called her husband, were very gracious. It was all well. She
would have preferred, and the Lady Godiva too, after their experience of
the world and the flesh, to have devoted her daughter to Heaven in the
minster there. But she was unworthy. Who was she, to train a bride for Him
who died on Cross? She accepted this as part of her penance, with
thankfulness and humility. She had heard that Sir Hugh of Evermue was a
gentleman of ancient birth and good prowess, and she thanked the King for
his choice.
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