Read "The Well at the World's End" by William Morris online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
But when they were well on the way, and riding a good pace by the clear of the moon, Richard spake to Ralph, and said: "Wither ride we now? " said Ralph: "Wither, save to Upmeads? " "Yea, yea," said Richard, "but by what road? shall we ride down to the ford of the Swelling Flood, and ride the beaten way, or take to the downland and the forest, and so again by the forest and downland and the forest once more, till we come to the Burg of the Four Friths?"
"Which way is the shorter? " said Ralph. "Forsooth," said Richard, "by the wildwood ye may ride shorter, if ye know it as I do. " Quoth the Sage: "Yea, or as I do. Hear a wonder! that two men of Swevenham know the wilds more than twenty miles from their own thorp."