But to you and for his sake I make my own bequest.Wear this ring for him till he is a man, and then bid him wear it as his father's guerdon.I had it from my father, who had it from his, and my grandfather told me the tale of it.In his grandsire's day it was a mighty armlet, but in the famine years it was melted and part sold, and only this remains.Some one of us far back was a king, and this is the badge of a king's house.There comes a day, little one, when the fruit of our bodies shall possess a throne.See that the lad be royal in thought and deed, as he is royal in blood."Next morning he kissed his wife and fondled his little son, and with his men rode northward, his eyes wistful but his mouth smiling.
What followed was for generations a tale among humble folk in England, who knew nothing of the deeds of the King's armies.By cottage fires they wove stories about it and made simple songs, the echo of which may still be traced by curious scholars.There is something of it in the great saga of Robin Hood, and long after the fens were drained women hushed their babies with snatches about the Crane and the Falcon, and fairy tales of a certain John of the Shaws, who became one with Jack the Giant-killer and all the nursery heroes.
Jehan and his band met Aelward at the appointed rendezvous, and soon were joined by a dozen knots of lusty yeomen, who fought not only for themselves but for the law of England and the peace of the new king.Of the little force Jehan was appointed leader, and once again became the Hunter, stalking a baser quarry than wolf or boar.For the Crane and his rabble, flushed with easy conquest, kept ill watch, and the tongues of forest running down to the fenland made a good hunting ground for a wary forester.