Kitabı oku: «The Master of Game: The Oldest English Book on Hunting», sayfa 9

CHAPTER XXVI
HOW THE ORDINANCE SHOULD BE MADE FOR THE HART HUNTING BY STRENGTH AND HOW THE HART SHOULD BE HARBOURED

When the king or my lord the Prince or any of their blood will hunt for the hart by strength, the Master of the Game must forewarn on the previous evening the sergeant of the office, and the yeomen berners at horse, and also the lymerer. ¹⁹⁴ And then he must ordain which of them three shall go for to harbour the hart, and with them the lymerer for the morrow, and charge the foresters, or if it be in a park, the parkers to attend to him busily. And all the four must accord where the meeting shall be on the morrow, and he must charge the sergeant and one of the two yeomen, if the sergeant be not there, to warn all the yeomen and grooms of the office to be at the meeting at sunrise. And that the yeomen berners on foot and the grooms that are called Chacechiens bring with them the hart hounds and this done ask for the wine, and let them go after. And he that is charged to harbour the hart must accord with the forester of the bailie in which they seek him where they should meet in the grey dawning. Nevertheless it were good readiness to look if they might see any deer at its meating (feeding) the previous evening to know the more readily where to seek and harbour him on the morrow. And on the morrow when they meet the forester that well ought to know of his great deer's haunts, he shall lead the hunter and the lymerer thither, where he best hopes to see him or find of him without noise. And if they can see him and they be in the wind they ought to withdraw from him in the softest manner they can, for dread of frightening him out of his haunt, and then go privily till they be under the wind. And as he stereth (stalks) and paceth forth feeding, they are to draw nigh him as readily and warily as they can so that the deer find them not. And when he has entered his covert, and to his ligging, they ought to tarry till they know that he be entered two skilful bowshots from thence. And then ought the lymerer by bidding of the hunter to cast round with his lymer the quarter that the deer is in, if it be in a huge covert, and if it be in a little covert that the deer is in, set¹⁹⁵ all the covert to know whether he is gone away or abides there still. And if he abides, then shall the lymerer go there where the hart went in, and take the scantilon (measure) of the trace for which he should cut off the end of his rod, and lay it in the talon of the trace, there where he went in hardest ground, in the bottom thereof, so that the scantilon will scarcely touch at either end. And that done he should break a bough of green leaves and lay it there where the hart went in, and cut another scantilon thereafter to take to the hunter that he may take it to the lord or to the Master of the Game at the meeting which some men call Assembly. But on the other side, if it be so that they cannot see him as before is said, the forester ought to bring him where most defoil is (tracks) of great male deer within his bailiewick, and there where the best haunt is, and most likely for a hart. And when the harbourer and the lymerer be there, the lymer if he crosses the fues of a deer he will anon challenge it, and then shall the lymerer take heed to his feet to know by the trace what deer it is that the lymer findeth, and if he finds thereby that it is no hart he shall take up his hound and say to him softly, not loud, "Ware rascal, ware!" And if it be of a hart that the lymer findeth, and that it be new he ought to sue (hunt up) with as little noise as he can contreongle (hunting heel) to undo all his moving¹⁹⁶ till he find his fumes (excrements), which he ought to put in the great end of his horn, and stop it with grass to prevent them falling out and reward his hound a little. And that done come again there where he began to sue and sue forth the right line till he comes to the entering of the quarter where he thinks that the hart is in. And always with little noise and cast round the quarters, if it be in a great covert as I said before. And also if it be in a little covert, to do of the scantilon and of all other things right as I have said before. And if he be voided (gone) to another quarter or wood, and there be any other covert near always to sue forth and cast round quarter by quarter, and wood by wood till he be readily harboured. And when he is harboured of the scantilon and of all other things do as before is said, and then draw fast to the meeting that men call assembly. And it is to be known that oftentimes a deer is harboured by sight of man's eye, but who should do it well it behoves him to be a skilful and wise hunter. Nevertheless to teach hunters the more readily to seek and harbour a hart according to the country that he is in, I have devised it in certain chapters as ye may hereafter hear.

CHAPTER XXVII
HOW A HUNTER SHOULD GO IN QUEST BY THE SIGHT

Afterwards I shall show you how a man should go in quest for the hart with his lymer or by himself. This word quest for the hart is a term of hunters beyond the sea, and means when a man goeth to find a deer and to harbour him, and it is a fair term and shorter said than our term of England to my seeming. And then shall the groom quest in the country that shall be devised to him the night before, and he shall rise in the dawning, and then he must go to the meating (pasturing) of the deer to look if he may see anything to his liking, and leave his lymer in a certain place where he may not alarm them. And thence he should go to the newly hewn wood of the forest or other places where he hopes best to see a hart, and keep always from coming into the wind of the hart, he should also climb upon a tree so that the hart shall wind nothing of him, and that he can see him further. And if he sees a hart standing stably he must look well in what country he shall go to his lair, and privily repair to some place where he can best see him and there break a bough for a mark. But he must remain a great while after, for some time a hart will stall and look about a great while before he will go to his lair, and specially when a great dew is falling, or else sometimes he cometh out again to look about, and to listen and to dry himself, and therefore he should stay long, so as not to frighten him. Then he should fetch his lymer and cast round as it is before said in the chapter of the harbouring of a hart, and take care that neither he nor his hounds make but little noise for dread lest he void.

CHAPTER XXVIII
HOW AN HUNTER SHOULD GO IN QUEST BETWEEN THE PLAINS AND THE WOOD

Also a man may go in quest in the fields in corn, in vines, in gardens, and in other places, where the harts go to their pasture in the fields out of the wood, and he must go forth right early so that he may look at the ground and judge well, and if he sees anything that pleases him he can break boughs and lay his mark and cast round as before is said.

CHAPTER XXIX
HOW A HUNTER SHOULD GO IN QUEST IN THE COPPICE AND THE YOUNG WOOD

Also a man may go in quest among young wood, and although he has been in the morning and (seen) nought, nevertheless he should not neglect to quest with his lymer when it is high day when all the deer have gone to their lairs, for peradventure the hart will sometimes have gone into the wood before the hunter and lymer came to quest for him.

CHAPTER XXX
HOW AN HUNTER SHOULD GO IN QUEST IN GREAT COVERTS AND STRENGTHS

Also a hunter may go in quest and put himself and his lymer in the great thickets by high time of day, as I have said, for it befalleth sometimes that harts are so malicious, that they pasture within themselves, that is to say within their covert, and go not out to the fields nor to the coppices nor to the young wood, especially when they have heard the hounds run before in the forest once or twice. He must have affeeted (trained) his lymer in such a manner that he neither opens nor quests¹⁹⁷ when he hunts in the morning, for he would make the hart void, and that must be by high noon, as I have said, when all beasts are in their lairs. And if his lymer find anything he should hold him short and lead him behind him, and look what deer it is, and if it be anything that pleases him, then he shall sue with his lymer till the time that he has brought it into some thicket, and then he shall break his boughs and take the scantilon and cast round as is before said, and then return home again to the assembly that in England is called a meeting or gathering.

CHAPTER XXXI
HOW A HUNTER SHOULD QUEST IN CLEAR SPIRES AND HIGH WOOD ¹⁹⁸

Also I will tell you how a hunter should go in quest among clear spires, and among high trees, and specially when it has rained the night before and in the morning. Eke in the time when the heads of the harts be tender, commonly they abide among clear spires and in high woods, for a thick country peradventure would do harm to their heads which be tender. If he meets rain as I before have said, or when their heads (are tender, and he meeteth¹⁹⁹) anything that pleaseth him, he should not follow it with his lymer, for they remain in such a country as I have said in that time, that is to say in rain and when their heads are tender, for he might make the deer void into some other place of the quests as it is before said. And whoso meets him in the wood in sight of his eyes, then he must set his lymer in his fues. And if it be a deer that enter-changeth,²⁰⁰ that is to say if a deer puts his hind feet in the trace of the forefeet without passing on, it is no good token, but if he sets his hinder feet far from the fore feet it is a good token, for when a hart entre-marcheth it is a token that he is a light deer and well running and of great flight, for if he had a side belly and great flanks he could not entre-marche, but the contrary would he do.²⁰¹ And sometimes when the hart makes a long stride with the hind foot, commonly they cannot fly well, and have been little hunted. And if he has of the fumes, he should put them in his horn with grass, or in his lap²⁰² with grass, for a man should not bear them in his hand, for they would all break. And when he should meet in the fields anything that pleaseth him, he should draw towards his covert, for to make him draw the sooner to his stronghold, and when he findeth where he goeth in, then he should break a bough towards the place where the hart is gone, and take the scantilon, and follow him no further in the wood. Then he should make a long turn and cast round about by some ways or by-paths, and if he sees that he hath not passed out of his turn, he may return again to the gathering, and make them his report, and if it be so that he pass there where he would umbicast (cast round) and make his turn, and his lymer before him, then he should look if it is the same hart he had umbicast (cast round), and if he cannot well see at his ease, then he should reconnoitre the country till he can see easily and plainly, but have a care that his lymer open not, and if his lymer be dislave²⁰³ (be wild), let him investigate it with his eye. And if he seeth that it is his first hart he should not follow him, but then he should take another turn and umbicast. He must look that he go not along the ways, for it is the worst sueing that is: for the lymer commonly overshoots. But he should go a little way off the paths on one side or the other, until he (the hart) be within his turn, for then he is most securely harboured and the search shall be shorter. But if he see that it be too late to run him with strength, and if he see that the hart goes but softly pacing towards his stronghold he need not do all these things. And I pray him where he hath met with the hart, or harboured him in his stronghold or in coppices or in other thickets, that he take all his blenches (tricks) and his ruses before said, to be more secure, and to make a shorter search, if he hath time to do as I have said. Thus I have rehearsed the readiness that belongs to the harbouring of the hart. And now will I devise where men will best find them in bellowing time. It is known that they begin to bellow fifteen days before grease time²⁰⁴ ends, especially old deer, and also if the end of August and the beginning of September be wet and rainy.

CHAPTER XXXII
HOW A GOOD HUNTER SHALL GO IN QUEST TO HEAR THE HARTS BELLOW

Also a good hunter should go before daybreak to hear the harts bellow which peradventure bellow in the forest in divers parts, and to look by the bellowing of the harts which seemeth to him the greatest. And always hearkening nearer and nearer under the wind, in such wise that when he will begin to sue, that he need nothing but to bring the lymer to the fues. And anon when he seeth that it is a hart that he findeth, uncouple the finders, but not too many, and this, for fear of falling in danger (of losing the right deer), should be done right early as soon as men can see day-light, for in that time the harts chase the hinds, and go hither and thither and abide no while in one place as they do in the right season. And because a man cannot come nigh him with a lymer, it is good to uncouple the hounds, for the hounds will get nigh them quicker and the bolder hounds will soon dissever (separate) the harts from the hinds. The harts bellow in divers manners, according as they be old or young, and according whether they be in a country where they have not heard the hounds, or where they have heard them. Some of them bellow with a full open mouth and often cast up their heads. And these be those that have heard the hounds only a little in the season, and that are well heated and swelled. And sometimes about high noon they bellow as before is said. The others bellow low and great and stooping with the head, and the muzzle towards the earth, and that is a token of a great hart, and an old and a malicious, or that he hath heard the hounds, and therefore dare not bellow or only a few times in the day, unless if it be in the dawning. And the other belloweth with his muzzle straight out before him, bolking and rattling in the throat, and also that is a token of a great and old hart that is assured and firm in his rut. In short all the harts that bellow greatest and mightiest by reason should be greatest and oldest.

CHAPTER XXXIII
HOW THE ASSEMBLY THAT MEN CALL GATHERING SHOULD BE MADE BOTH WINTER AND SUMMER AFTER THE GUISE OF BEYOND THE SEA

The assembly that men call gathering should be made in this manner: the night before that the Lord or the Master of the Game will go to the wood, he must cause to come before him all the hunters and the helps, the grooms and the pages, and shall assign to each one of them their quests in a certain place, and separate the one from the other, and the one should not come into the quest of the other, nor do him annoyance or hinder him. And every one should quest in his best wise, in the manner that I have said; and should assign them the place where the gathering shall be made, at most ease for them all, and the nearest to their quests. And the place where the gathering shall be made should be in a fair mead well green, where fair trees grow all about, the one far from the other, and a clear well or beside some running brook. And it is called gathering because all the men and the hounds for hunting gather thither, for all they that go to the quest should all come again in a certain place that I have spoken of. And also they that come from home, and all the officers that come from home should bring thither all that they need, every one in his office, well and plenteously, and should lay the towels and board clothes all about upon the green grass, and set divers meats upon a great platter²⁰⁵ after the lord's power. And some should eat sitting, and some standing, and some leaning upon their elbows, some should drink, some laugh, some jangle, some joke and some play – in short do all manner of disports of gladness, and when men be set at tables ere they eat then should come the lymerers and their grooms with their lymers the which have been questing, and every one shall say his report to the lord of what they have done and found and lay the fumes before the lord he that hath any found, and then the Lord or the Master of the hunting by the counsel of them all shall choose which they will move and run to and which shall be the greatest hart and the highest deer. And when they shall have eaten, the lord shall devise where the relays shall go and other things which I shall say more plainly, and then shall every man speed him to his place, and all haste them to go to the finding.

CHAPTER XXXIV
HOW THE HART SHOULD BE MOVED WITH THE LYMER AND RUN TO AND SLAIN WITH STRENGTH

When the hart is harboured as before is said and they before named come to the meeting that some men call the assembly, and also the scantilon, ²⁰⁶ and the fumes well liked by the Lord and Master of the Game, then shall the Master of the Game choose of the sergeants or of the yeoman at horse, which of them shall be at the finding, or all, or some. Nevertheless, if the deer be likely to fall among danger it were good to assign some of the horsemen among the relays to help more readily the hounds, if they fall upon the stint, ²⁰⁷ and when the hunters on horseback be assigned then he must assign which of the yeomen berners on foot shall be finders, and which hounds he shall have with him to the finding, and the lymerer and the pages to go with him. And after that to assign the relays by advice of them that know the country and the flight of the deer. And there where most danger is, there set the readiest hunters and the best footers with the boldest hounds with them. And at every relay sufficeth two couple of hounds or three at the most. And see that amid the relays, somewhat toward the hinder-most relay, especially if it be in danger, that one of the lymerer's pages be there with one of the lymers. And the more danger (there is) the older and the readier, and the most tender nosed hound. And when all is ordained then shall the Lord and the Master of the Game, if he liketh better to be at the finding than with a relay, shall go thither where the deer is harboured, and set ready waits about the quarter of the wood that the deer is in, to see what cometh out, or to see if the deer that is harboured would start and steal away ere the lymer moved him. And this done, then should the Lord and Master of the Game bid the lymerer bring them there where he marked that the hart went in, and when they be there the lymerer should take away the boughs he laid over the trace at the harbouring, and set his lymer in the fues, and then shall the Lord if he can blow, blow three motes, and after him the Master of the Game, and after the hunters, as they be greatest in office, that be at the finding, and then the lymerer. And after that if the lymer sue boldly and lustily the lymerer shall say to him loud; "Ho moy, ho moy, hole hole hole." And ever take good heed to his feet, and look well about him. And as oft as he findeth the fues, or if it be in thick spires,²⁰⁸ boughs or branches broken, where the deer hath walked, he should say aloud – "Cy va – cy va – cy va," and rally with his horn, and always should the yeoman berner the which is ordained to be finder, follow the lymer and be as nigh him as he might with the raches that he leadeth for the finding, and if the lymer as he sueth, overshoot and be out of the fues, the lymerer should always, till his hounds be fallen in again, speak to him, calling his name, be it Loyer, or Beaumont, or Latimer or Bemond according to what the hound is named, and anon as he falls in again and finds the fues or branches as before is said he shall say loud, "Cy va" as before and rally and so forth at every time that he findeth thereof, until that the lymer move him. Nevertheless I have seen when a lymer sueth long and could not so soon move him as men would, that they have taken up the lymer and uncoupled one or two hounds, to have him sooner found, but this truly no skilful hunter ought to do, unless the lymer cannot put it forth, nor bring it any further, or that the deer be stirring in the quarter, and hath not waited for the moving of the lymer. Or else that it be so far advanced in the day, that the sun hath dried up the fues, and that they have little day enough to run him and hunt him with strength. But now to come again to the lymer, it is to wit that when the lymer hath moved him, if the lymerer can see him he shall blow a mote,²⁰⁹ and rechace (recheat),²¹⁰ and if the deer be soule (alone) the Berners shall uncouple all the finders, and if he be not alone two hounds sufficeth till he be separated, and if the lymerer saw him (not) at the moving he should go to his lair and look thereby whether it be a hart or not, and if he see by the lair or by the fues that it is the same deer, that he hath sued (hunted) and alone he should rechase without a long mote, for the mote should never be blown before the rechasing,²¹¹ unless a man seeth that which he hunteth for. And then the Berner should do as I have said before, and if he be not alone the Berner should do as above is said, for it is to wit that the mote before rechasing (recheating) shall never be blown but when a man seeth what he hunteth for, as I have said. Now furthermore, when the hart is moved and the finders cast off, then should the lymerer take up his hounds and follow after, and foot it in the best wise that he can. And the Berner also and every horseman go that can go, so that they come not into the fues (across the line) nor in front of the hounds, and shape (their course) as often as they can to meet him. And as often as any man see him or meet him, he should go to the fues and blow a mote and rechace and then holloa to the hounds to come forth withall, and this done, speed him fast in the manner that I have said to meet with him again. And the relay that he (the hart) cometh to first should take good heed that he vauntlay²¹² not, if other relays be behind for dread of bending out from the relay. But he should let the deer pass and go to the fues, and there blow a mote, and rechace and rally upon the fues. And the hunter ought to be advised that his hounds catch it (the scent) well in couple, ere he relay, that they run not counter.²¹³ For that might make the hounds that come therewith and the hunters to be on a stynt (at fault), and peradventure not recover it all the day after. And if it so be that the hunter that hath relayed, see that the deer be likely to fall into danger, that is to say among other deer, and else it needeth not, he should when he hath relayed stand still in the fues, and holloa the hounds that come forth therewith and take up the hindermost, and if it be in a park go stand again with them at his place, and if it be out of park in a forest or other wood follow after as well as he is able. And in this wise ought every relay to do till he come among the back relays. For if they at the back see by the spreading of the clees (claws) by setting fast and deep his ergots (dew claws) in the earth, and if they see him also cast his chaule,²¹⁴ then they ought to vauntlay for advantage of the hounds, for so shall they sooner have him at bay, and from then he is but dead if the hunters serve aright the hounds. Nevertheless men have seen at the first finding or soon after, deer turn the head (to bay), and oftenest in rutting time, but I mean not of deer that turneth so to bay, but I mean of hunted deer when men have seen of them the tokens said before that he stand at bay. And if it be so that the hounds have envoised²¹⁵ or have overshot, or that they be on a stynt by any other ways, those hunters on horseback or on foot to whom belongs the right, first should blow the stynt as I shall devise in a chapter that shall be of all blowing.²¹⁶ And after that he should fall before the hounds as soon as he can and take them up, and if so be that they have envoysed two deer of antler²¹⁷ they should not be rated badly, but get in front off them and take them off in the fairest way that men can. And if they run ought else they should be got in front of and rated and well lashed. And what hounds they may get up, bring them to the next rights (right line) if they know where, or else there where he (the hart) was last seen. And if it be great danger they ought to blow a mote for the lymer and let him sue till he hath retrieved him or else till he hath brought him out of danger. And as oft as he findeth or seeth that he is in the rights the lymerer should say loud, "Cy va" twice or thrice – and recheat, and so should the hunters as oft as they lust to blow. And if the lymer overshoot or cannot put it forth, every hunter that is there ought to go some deal abroad for to see if he may find the rights by vesteying (searching) thereof. And whoso may find it before the lymer be fallen in again, he should recheat in the rights, and blow after that a mote for the lymer and sue forth as is said before. And if the lymer gave it up, and cannot and will not do his devoire (duty), then should they blow two motes for the raches and cast them off there where they were last in the rights. And if the hunters hear that the hounds run well and put it lustily forth they should rout and jopey²¹⁸ to them lustily and often and recheat also. And if there be but one hound that undertaketh it lustily they shall hue and jopey to him, and also recheat. As oft as they be on a stynt they should blow the stynt and do as before is said. And if any of the aforesaid hounds retrieve him so that men may know and hear it by the doubling of their menee,²¹⁹ but if they hear any hunter above them that hath met (the deer) that bloweth the rights and holloaeth else (where) they should haste them thither where they thought the hounds retrieved it; or else to meet with the hounds for to see the fues whether it be the hunted deer or not. And if it is not he, they should do as above is said when they be on a stynt, and if it be he every man shall speed him that speed may, and every relay do as before is said. And if any of the hunters happen while they be on a stynt to see a hart that he thinketh to be the hunted deer he ought to blow a mote and recheat and after that blow two motes for the hounds and stand still before the fues till the Berner with the hounds do come. And if they suppose that they may not hear him he should draw to them till they have heard him. And when any of the Berners or the lymerer hear a man blow for them, they should answer blowing in this wise in their horn: "trut trut trut," but he should know readily by the fues after the tokens that have been said before, whether it be the hunted deer or not. And in the same wise shall a hunter do that findeth an hart quat (couched), and he thinketh it to be the hunted deer, and he sees that his fellows and the hounds be on a stynt, he should well beware that he blow not too nigh him, lest he start, and go away, before the hounds come. Nevertheless for to wit whether it be the hunted deer or no, the tokens have been rehearsed before – and when he hath been so well run to and enchased and retrieved, and so oft relayed and vauntelayed to, and that he seeth that (neither) by beating up the rivers nor brooks nor foiling him down, nor going to soil, nor rusing to and fro upon himself, which is to say in his own fues, can help him, then turns he his head and standeth at bay. And then as far as it may be heard every man draweth thither, and the knowing thereof is that the hunter that cometh first, and the hunters (one) after the other they holloa all together, and blow a mote and rechace all at once. And that they never do but when he is at bay or when bay is made for the hounds, after he is dead, when they should be rewarded or enquerreyde.²²⁰ And when the hunters that held the relays be there, or that they be nigh the bay, they should pull off the couples from the hounds' necks and let them draw thither. And the hunters should break the bay as often as they can for two causes; the one lest he (the stag) hurt the hounds, if he stand and rest long in one place; another is that the relays that stand far can come up with their hounds the while he is alive, and be at the death. And it is to be known that if any of the hunters have been at any time while the deer hath been run to out of hearing of hound and horn, he should have blown the forloyne,²²¹ unless he were in a park, for there it should never be blown. And whoso first heard him so blow should blow again to him the "perfect,"²²² if it so be that he were in his rights, and else not. For by that shall he be brought to readiness and comfort who before did not know where the game or any of his fellows were. And when it so is, that they have thought that the bay has lasted long enough, then should he whoso be the most master bid some of the hunters go spay²²³ him behind the shoulder forward to the heart. But the lymerer should let slip the rope while he (the deer) stood on his feet, and let the lymer go to (him), for by right the lymer should never (go) out of the rope, though he (be let) slip from ever so far. And when the deer is dead, and lieth on one side then first it is time to blow the death, for it should never be blown at hart hunting till the deer be on its side. And then should the hounds be coupled up and as fast as a man can. One of the Berners should encorne him, that is to say turn his horns earthwards and the throat upwards, and slit the skin of the throat all along the neck, and cut labelles (small flaps) on either side of the skin, the which shall hang still upon the head, for this belongeth to an hart slain with strength, and else not. And then should the hunter flay down the skin as far as he can, and then with a sharp trencher cut as thick as he can the flesh down to the neck bone, and this done every man stand abroad and blow the death, and make short bay for to reward the hounds. And every man (shall) have a small rod in his hand to hold the hounds that they should the better bay and every man blow the death that can blow. And as oft as any hunter beginneth to blow every man shall blow for the death to make the better noise, and make the hounds better know the horns and the bay, and when they have bayed a while let the hounds come to eat the flesh, to the hard bone from in front of the shoulders right to the head, for that is their reward of right. And then take them off fair and couple them up again. And then bring to the lymers and serve each by himself, and then should the Lord if he list or else the Master of the Game, or if he be absent whoso is greatest of the hunters, blow the prise at coupling up, and that should be blown only of the aforesaid, and by no others. Nevertheless it is to wit that if the Lord be not come soon enough to the bay, while the deer is alive they ought to hold the bay as long as they can, without rebuking the hounds, to await the Lord, and if the Lord remains away too long, when the deer is spayed and laid on one side, before they do ought else, the Master of the Game, or which of the horsemen that be there at the death, should mount their horses and every man draw his way blowing the death till one of them hath met with him, or heard of him, and brought him thither. And if they cannot meet with him, and that they have word that he is gone home, they ought to come again, and do, whoso is greatest master, as the Lord should do, if he were there, and right so should they do to the Master of the Game in the Lord's absence. Also if the Lord be there all things should be done of the bay and rewarding as before is said, and then he should charge whom he list to undo the deer, if the hounds shall not be enquyrid thereon, for if they should, there needeth no more but to caboche²²⁴ his head, all the upper jaw still thereon, and the labelles aforesaid; and then hold him and lay the skin open, and lay the head at the skin's end right in front of the shoulders. And when the hounds are thus inquirreide the lymers should have both the shoulders for their rights, and else they should not have but the ears and the brain whereof they should be served, the hart's head lying under their feet. But on the other hand if the lord will have the deer undone, he that he biddeth as before is said, should undo him most woodmanly and cleanly that he can and wonder ye not that I say woodmanly, for it is a point that belongeth to woodmanscraft, though it be well suiting to an hunter to be able to do it. Nevertheless it belongeth more to woodmanscraft than to hunters, and therefore as of the manner he should be undone I pass over lightly, for there is no woodman nor good hunter in England that cannot do it well enough, and well better than I can tell them. Nevertheless when so is that the paunch is taken out clean and whole and the small guts, one of the groom chacechiens should take the paunch and go to the next water withal, and slit it, and cast out the filth and wash it clean, that no filth abide therein. And then bring it again and cut it in small gobetts in the blood that should be kept in the skin and the lungs withal, if they be hot and else not, and all the small guts withal, and bread broken therein according whether the hounds be few or many, and all this turned and meddled together among the blood till it be well brewed in the blood, and then look for a small green, and thither bear all this upon the skin with as much blood as can be saved, and there lay it, and spread the skin thereupon, the hair side upward, and lay the head, the visage, forward at the neck end of the skin. And then the lord shall go take a fair small rod in his hand, the which one of the yeomen or of the grooms should cut for him, and the Master of the Game and other, and the sergeants, and each of the yeomen on horse, and others, and then the Lord should take up the hart's head by the right side between the surroyal and the fork or troche whichever it be that he bear, and the Master of the Game, the left side in the same wise, and hold the head upright that the nose touch the earth. And then every man that is there, save the berners on foot and the chacechiens and the lymerers which should be with their hounds and wait upon them in a fair green where there is a cool shadow, should stand in front on either side of the head, with rods, that no hound come about, nor on the sides, but that all stand in front. And when it is ready the Master of the Game or the sergeant should bid the berners bring forth their hounds and stand still in front of them a small quoit's cast from thence, as the bay is ordained. And when they be there the Master of the Game or sergeant should cry skilfully loud: "Devour" and then holloa every wight, and every hunter blow the death. And when the hounds be come and bay the head, the Berners should pull off the couples as fast as they can. And when the Lord thinketh the bay hath lasted long enough, the Master of the Game should pull away the head and anon others should be ready to pull away the skin and let the hounds come to the reward, and then should the Lord and Master of the Game, and all the hunters stand around all about the reward, and blow the death. As oft as any of them begin every man bear him fellowship till the hounds be well rewarded, and that they have nought left. And right thus should be done when the hounds should be enquyrreied of the whole deer. And when there is nought left then should the Lord, if he wishes, or else the Master of the Game or in his absence whoso is greatest next him, stroke (blow) in this wise, that is to say blow four motes and stynt (stop) not (for the time of) half an Ave Maria and then blow other four motes a little longer than the first four motes. And thus should no wight stroke, but when the hart is slain with strength, and when one of the aforesaid hath thus blown then should the grooms couple up the hounds and draw homewards fair and soft. And all the rest of the hunters should stroke in this wise: "Trut, trut, tro-ro-row, tro-ro-row," and four motes all of one length not too long and not too short. And otherwise should no hart hunter stroke from thenceforth till they go to bed. And thus should the Berners on foot and the grooms lead home the hounds and send in front that the kennel be clean and the trough filled with clean water, and their couch renewed with fresh straw. And the Master of the Game and the sergeant and the yeoman at horse should come home and blow the menee at the hall door or at the cellar door as I shall devise. First the master, or whoso is greatest next him, shall begin and blow three motes²²⁵ alone, and at the first mote²²⁶ the remnant of the aforesaid should blow with him, and beware that none blow longer than another, and after the three motes even forthwith they should blow the recoupling as thus: "Trut, trut, trororo rout," and that they be advised that from the time they fall in to blow together, that none of them begin before (the) other nor end after (the) other. And if it be the first hart slain with strength in the season, or the last, the sergeant and the yeoman shall go on their office's behalf and ask their fees of the which I report me to the old statutes and customs of the King's house. And this done the Master of the Game ought to speak to the officers that all the hunters' suppers be well ordained, and that they drink not ale, and nothing but wine that night for the good and great labour they have had for the Lord's game and disport, and for the exploit and making of the hounds. And also that they may the more merrily and gladly tell what each of them hath done all the day and which hounds have best run and boldest.