"
"Yea," said he, "that wot I well, that these are of the kin of the
daughters of the horse-leech; but how shall they slake their greed,
seeing that as thou sayest villeinage shall be gone? Belike their men
shall pay them quit-rents and do them service, as free men may, but
all this according to law and not beyond it; so that though the
workers shall be richer than they now be, the lords shall be no
richer, and so all shall be on the road to being free and equal."
Said I, "Look you, friend; aforetime the lords, for the most part,
held the land and all that was on it, and the men that were on it
worked for them as their horses worked, and after they were fed and
housed all was the lords'; but in the time to come the lords shall see
their men thriving on the land and shall say once more, 'These men
have more than they need, why have we not the surplus since we are
their lords?' Moreover, in those days shall betide much chaffering
for wares between man and man, and country and country; and the lords
shall note that if there were less corn and less men on their lands
there would be more sheep, that is to say more wool for chaffer, and
that thereof they should have abundantly more than aforetime; since
all the land they own, and it pays them quit-rent or service, save
here and there a croft or a close of a yeoman; and all this might grow
wool for them to sell to the Easterlings.
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