Adam of the Road

It rains for two days while Roger and Adam travel toward Giles Fair. While walking, they see a magpie, and Roger gloomily observes that one magpie stands for sorrow. Adam doesn’t want to think of sorrow while he is feeling so happy, so he searches for a second magpie to fulfill the traditional English rhyme “one for sorrow, two for mirth.” He gets distracted and never sees a second magpie.

Adam and Roger have to dodge a galloping horseman who plows by them on the road. To Adam’s surprise, Nick begins to run after the horseman before Adam calls him back. Roger sees that the horse is Bayard, and the horseman is Jankin. Roger warns his son to put Nick on a leash because the dog was trained to follow Bayard.

The father, the son, and the dog arrive at a bustling inn and change into clean, dry clothes. While drying off by the fire, Adam talks to an old man who tells him that he was there when King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta. After dinner, Adam plays his harp while Roger tells the other guests the story of a shipwreck. As the tale ends, Jankin barges into the inn. He is in a sour mood and tells Roger that Bayard is lame. Roger replies that Bayard was not lame before and says that Jankin must have mishandled the horse. Adam and Roger go to bed, and Adam allows Nick to lick his fingers before falling asleep, not realizing that he is saying goodbye to his dog.

When Adam wakes up, Roger is sitting at the edge of the bed. He calls Adam “son,” which worries him, as Roger never calls him “son” unless something deeply moves him. Roger then tells him that Nick is gone. Adam frantically searches for Nick, running outside and calling his name. He asks everyone he sees if they have seen a red spaniel.

Inside, Roger questions a stable boy, who tells him that the other minstrel came to the stables before sunrise and claimed he traded his horse for the dog, leaving Bayard behind. Adam looks at Roger, wondering if Roger made this trade secretly. Roger denies it, and Adam believes him. Then Adam realizes that Jankin stole Nick, and he is devastated.

Roger and Adam travel in the direction that the stable boy indicates, hoping to catch Jankin and recover Nick. Adam asks every traveler they meet if they have seen a minstrel with a red spaniel. Eventually, three travelers tell Adam that they saw Jankin headed toward the town of Guildford. Roger and Adam thank them and increase their pace toward Guildford.

Guildford is a well-populated town with three churches, lots of shops, and a castle for the sheriff of Surrey. It is full of travelers, pilgrims, hunters, and merchants. Once they reach Guildford, Roger makes a plan of places to look where Jankin might have taken Nick. On the way to their first stop, Adam glimpses Jankin and Nick through a small alleyway. He immediately runs after them, calling to Roger, but by the time Roger turns, Adam is out of sight.

Adam runs after Jankin and Nick, who are far ahead of him. He is tired from walking roughly 12 miles that day but keeps running. Jankin realizes Adam is following them and begins to run. Adam follows him to a dock on the River Wey and sees Jankin and Nick on a ferry halfway across the river. Instead of waiting for the next ferry, Adam leaves his shoes, his wallet, and his harp in the care of a nice lady on the dock. He dives into the river to follow the ferry, but the current pushes him off course. Though his arms and legs are weak, he makes it to the other side of the river. When Adam finds the strength to stand, Jankin and Nick are gone, but there is only one path through the forest, so he assumes they followed it.