200 Ballads, etc. The couple agreed, And were married with speed, And soon to the church did they go ; No more is she afraid For to walk in the shade. Nor sit in those valleys below. The Stout Cripple of Cornwall, wherein is shewed his dissolute life and deserved death. Of a stout cripple that kept the high-way, And begg'd for his living all time of the day, A story I'll tell you that pleasant shall be. The Cripple of Cornwall sumamed was he. He crept on his hands and his knees up and down. In a torn jacket and a ragged torn gown. For he had never a leg to the knee ; The Cripple of Cornwall sumamed was he. He was of a stomach courageous and stout. For he had no cause to complain of the gout ; To go upon stilts most cunning was he. With a staff on his neck most gallant to see. Yea, no good fellowship would he forsake. Were it in secret a horse for to take ; His stool he kept close in a hollow tree, That stood from the city a mile, two, or three. Thus all the day long he begg'd for relief. And all the night long he played the false thief; For seven years together this custom kept he. And no man knew him such a person to be.
