BELTANE. "Do all bowmen read, then?"
BOWMAN. "Why look ye, brother, I am not what I was aforetime--non sum quails eram --I was bred a shaveling, a mumbler, a be-gowned do-nothing--brother, I was a monk, but the flesh and the devil made of me a bowman, heigho--so wags the world! Though methinks I am a better bowman than ever I was a monk, having got me some repute with this my bow."
BELTANE (shaking his head). "Methinks thy choice was but a sorry one for--"
BOWMAN (laughing). "Choice quotha! 'Twas no choice, 'twas forced upon me, vi et armis. I should be chanting prime or matins at this very hour but for this tongue o' mine, God bless it! For, when it should have been droning psalms, it was forever lilting forth some blithesome melody, some merry song of eyes and lips and stolen kisses. In such sort that the good brethren were wont to gather round and, listening,-- sigh! Whereof it chanced I was, one night, by order of the holy Prior, drubbed forth of the sacred precincts. So brother Anselm became Giles o' the Bow--the kind Saints be praised, in especial holy Saint Giles (which is my patron saint!). For, heed me--better the blue sky and the sweet, strong wind than the gloom and silence of a cloister. I had rather hide this sconce of mine in a hood of mail than in the mitre of a lord bishop--nolo episcopare, good brother! Thus am I a fighter, and a good fighter, and a wise fighter, having learned 'tis better to live to fight than to fight to live."
BELTANE. "And for whom do ye fight?"
BOWMAN. "For him that pays most, pecuniae obediunt omnia, brother."
BELTANE (frowning). "Money? And nought beside?"
BOWMAN (staring). "As what, brother?"
BELTANE. "The justice of the cause wherefore ye fight."
BOWMAN. "Justice quotha--cause! O innocent brother, what have such matters to do with such as I? See you now, such lieth the case. You, let us say, being a baron (and therefore noble!) have a mind to a certain other baron's castle, or wife, or both--(the which is more usual) wherefore ye come to me, who am but a plain bowman knowing nought of the case, and you chaffer with me for the use of this my body for so much money, and thereafter I shoot my best on thy behalf as in mine honour bound. Thus have I fought both for and against Black Ivo throughout the length and breadth of his Duchy of Pentavalon. If ye be minded to sell that long sword o' thine, to none better market could ye come, for there be ever work for such about Black Ivo."