"--
"Then thou playest, as many an unthrift doth,
And standest in midst of thy good."--
"What tidings hear you," said the king.
"As you ride far and near?"--
"I hear no tidings, sir, by the mass,
But that cow-hides are dear."--
"Cow-hides! cow-hides! what things are those?
I marvel what they be!"--
"What, art thou a fool?" the tanner replied;
"I carry one under me."--
"What craftsman art thou?" said the king,
"I pray thee tell me trow.""--
"I am a barker, sir, by my trade.
Now tell me what art thou?"--
"I am a poor courtier, sir," quoth he,
"That am forth of service worn;
And fain I would thy 'prentice be,
Thy cunning for to learn."--
"Marry, heaven forfend," the tanner replied,
"That thou my 'prentice were!
Thou'dst spend more good than I should win,
By forty shilling a year."--
"Yet one thing would I," said our king,
"If thou wilt not seem strange:
Though my horse be better than thy mare,
Yet with thee I fain would change."--
"Why, if with me thou fain wilt change,
As change full well may we,
By the faith of my body, thou proud fell-ow
I will have some boot of thee.
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