noon
yet she cometh not . Surely she hath changed in these last days , or it may be in these last hours : yea , or this very hour . '' Amidst such thoughts he came into the wood , and made his way by the paths and open places , going south and east of the House : whereas the last day he had gone west and north . He went a soft pace , but wandered on without any stay till it was noon , and he had seen nought but the wild things of the wood , nor many of them . But at last he heard the tinkle of a little bell coming towards him : so he stood still and got the hilt of his sword ready to his hand ; and the tinkle drew nearer , and he heard withal the trample of some riding-beast ; so he went toward the sound , and presently in a clearer place of the wood came upon a man of religion , a clerk , riding on a hackney , to whose neck hung a horse-bell : the priest had saddle bags beside him and carried in his right hand a book in a bag . When he met Ralph he blessed him , and Ralph gave him the sele of the day , and asked him whither he would . Said the Priest : `` I am for the Little Plain and the Land of Abundance ; whence art thou , my son , and whither wilt thou ? ''