three hours after noon
Wherefore , since the fairest of the day is before us , let us use it all we may , and , when thou hast done me my new foot-gear , get us gone forward again . '' He kissed her kindly and yea-said her asking : he had already fallen to work on the leather , and in a while had fashioned her the brogues ; so she tied them to her feet , and arose with a smile and said : `` Now am I hale and strong again , what with the rest , and what with thy loving-kindness , and thou shalt see how nimble I shall be to leave this land , for as fair as it is . Since forsooth a land of lies it is , and of grief to the children of Adam . '' So they went their ways thence , and fared nimbly indeed , and made no stay till some three hours after noon , when they rested by a thicket-side , where the strawberries grew plenty ; they ate thereof what they would : and from a great oak hard by Walter shot him first one culver , and then another , and hung them to his girdle to be for their evening 's meal ; sithence they went forward again , and nought befell them to tell of , till they were come , whenas it lacked scarce an hour of sunset , to the banks of another river , not right great , but bigger than the last one . There the Maid cast herself down and said : `` Friend , no further will thy friend go this even ; nay , to say sooth , she can not . So now we will eat of thy venison , and then shall my tale be , since I may no longer delay it ; and thereafter shall our slumber be sweet and safe as I deem . '' She spake merrily now , and as one who feared nothing , and Walter was much heartened by her words and her voice , and he fell to and made a fire , and a woodland oven in the earth , and sithence dighted his fowl , and baked them after the manner of wood-men .