“Yea, lord, I will tell thee the tale of them, which setteth forth well both the wise policy and the great mercy of the folk of the Burg and their rulers.”
Said Ralph: “Are these women also of the Dry Tree? For I perceive them to be born of the foes of the Burg.”
Now the townsmen had let their talk drop a while to listen to the talk of the aliens; and Roger answered still in a loud voice: “Nay, nay, it is not so. These queens are indeed war-taken thralls, but not from them of the Dry Tree, or they would have been slain at once, like as the carles of those accursed ones. But these are of the folk of the Wheat-wearers, even as those whom thou sawest brought to-day amidst the other spoil. And to this folk the Burg showeth mercy, and whenso the host goeth against them and over-cometh (and th
