But the accused man was
held guiltless, for, said the young judge, they had there no tyrannous
forest laws, and every man was free to hunt wheresoever he wished, and
to take what game he might. And again, a fisherman was accused of having
charged two pennies for a basket of fish worth only half that sum; and
Kenric said that the fisherman was poor and hard working, and that he
who bought the fish was over greedy, and the case was dismissed. Next a
poor cattleman of Kingarth came forward, showing a knife wound in his
arm, and saying that another had stabbed him and also struck him in the
mouth, knocking out a tooth; and Kenric ordered that the man's wound
should be measured with a rule, and it was three inches in length and a
half inch in breadth. Then for the length of the wound a fine of
twenty-four pence was imposed upon the wrongdoer, for its breadth six
pennies, and for the tooth twelve other pennies.
Then Kenric asked if there were any further matters to be judged.
"Yes, my lord," said Duncan Graham, entering the circle of the court.
"There is a boon that I your servant would humbly ask."
"And what boon is that?" asked Kenric, already guessing what it might be.
"It is," said Duncan, standing to his full height and growing very red
-- "It is that there lives with Elspeth Blackfell, over at Kilmory, one
whom men name Aasta the Fair, and she is a thrall.
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