and he called Will up to him and said: "I hear you are a Master Thief. You know that you deserve death for that. But if you can prove that you are really a master in your thievery I will let you go free. First let us see whether you can steal my horse out of my stable tonight."
To prevent his horse being stolen, the lord ordered it to be saddled and put a stable boy on it, telling him to stop there all night.
Will took two flasks of brandy into one of which he had poured a drug, and dressing himself as an old woman he went to the lord's stable late at night and asked to rest there as it was so cold and she was so tired.
The stable boy pointed to some straw in the corner and told the woman she might rest there for a time.
When she sat down she took one of the brandy flasks out of her pocket and drank it off, saying, "Ah, that warms one! Would you like to have a drink?"
And when the stable boy said "Yes," Will gave him the other flask, and as soon as he had drunk it he fell dead asleep.
So Will lifted him off of the horse and put him on the cross-bar of the stable as if he were riding, and then he got on the horse and rode away.
In the morning the lord went down to the stable and there he saw the stable boy riding the cross-bar and his horse gone.
