The Lad of the Gad Read Online Free

said the Earl.
    â€œAnd I can not do that trick,” said the Earl’s little son.
    â€œIt is a great trick and a juggle,” said the Champion, “and it is not you that can do it.”
    â€œThen what will you do now?” said the Earl.
    â€œI am going away,” said the Champion.
    â€œYou will not leave my set of sons,” said the Earl.
    But the Champion leapt on the point of his pins, and he went over turret and top of court and town, till he met a man threshing in a barn.
    â€œI will make you a free man for your life,” said the Champion. “There are two of your master’s sons, one with his fist off, one with his head off. Go there and put them on again.”
    â€œWith what shall I bring them?” said the man.
    â€œTake a tuft of grass, hold it in water, shake it on them, and you will heal them,” said the Champion. And he heard a loud voice in a bush.
    â€œWhat is that?” said the man.
    â€œI must go,” said the Champion, “to the King of the Stars, whose foot no doctor or leech has healedin seven years.”
    And he moved as a wave from a wave
    And marbles from marbles,
    As a wild winter wind,
    Sightly and swiftly singing
    Right proudly,
    Through glens and high tops
    And made no stops
    Until he reached the castle
    Of the King of the Stars.
    He struck palm on door. “Who is that?” said the porter.
    â€œI am a doctor and a leech,” said the Champion.
    â€œMany a doctor and a leech has come,” said the porter. “There is not a spike on the town without a doctor’s head, but one: perhaps it is for your head it shall be.”
    The Champion went in.
    â€œRise up, King of the Stars,” he said. “You are free from your wound.”
    The King of the Stars rose up, and there was not a man swifter or stronger than he.
    â€œLie down, King of the Stars,” said the slim, swarthy Champion. “You are full of wounds.”
    The King of the Stars lay down, and he was worse than he ever was.
    â€œYou did wrong,” he said, “to heal me then spoil me again.”
    â€œI was showing that I could heal you,” said the Champion. “Now fetch all the doctors of theearth.”
    And word was sent by running-lads to all the doctors and leeches of the earth. And they came riding, that they would get pay. And when they came riding, the slim, swarthy Champion went out, and he said to them, “What made you spoil the leg of the King of the Stars?”
    â€œWell, then,” they said, “if we were to earn the worth of our ointment and the worth of our trouble, we could not leave him with the worth of his leg in this world.”
    â€œI will lay you a wager,” said the Champion, “the full of my cap in gold, to be set at the end of the dale. And there is none here that will be sooner at it than the King of the Stars.”
    He set the cap full of gold at the end of the dale, and the doctors laid the wager that it could never be, and put their lives on it.
    The Champion went in where the King of the Stars was, and he said to him, “Arise, whole, King of the Stars. I have laid a wager on you.”
    The King of the Stars got up whole and healthy, and he went out, and in three springs he was at the cap of gold, leaving the doctors behind him.
    Then the doctors and leeches asked that they might get their lives, and promise of that they did not get.
    The Champion put his hat on his head, his holly in his fist, and he seized the grey adze that hung from his haunch, and he took under them, overthem, through and amongst them, and left no man to tell a tale or earn bad tidings.
    When the King was healed, he sent word for the nobles and for the great gentles to the wedding of his daughter and the slim, swarthy Champion.
    â€œWhat company is here?” said the Champion.
    â€œThe company of your own wedding, and they are gathering from each half and from each side of the golden great white speckled