Maud Lindsay

Introduction

dropcap image NCE in the month of May when the cuckoo sang and the hawthorn bloomed, certain Joyous Travelers met at an inn by the King's highway.

And because their ways lay in the same direction and because they liked good company and merry they agreed to travel together.

A Squire there was and his Lady,
Their Little Son and his good Nurse;
Two Sisters young and fair,
Their Aunt and her Scotch Maid;
An Oxford Scholar on a holiday,
A Chapman with his pack upon his back,
A Farmer and his Daughter 
Who were fresh from sights of London Town,
And with his Servant Lad, a sturdy fellow,
A Young Lord hastening to his manor.

And so it befell that when they stopped to rest at inn, or brook, or 'neath some greenwood tree, first one and then another told a tale to please the Squire's Little Son; nor, if the truth were known, were they less eager listeners than the child.

"A good tale is good fare for young and old," the Squire said.

And of the Joyous Travelers not one was missing when the tales went round. Thus did they travel pleasantly from meeting place to journey's end.