Adam of the Road

Adam wakes up in a clean, comfortable room. When he tries to look around, he gets horribly dizzy and realizes that there is a thick bandage wrapped around his head. He falls back asleep. When he wakes again, a man and a woman are standing over him. The man introduces himself as Master Walter, a parish priest, and the woman as his sister, Dame Prudence. He tells Adam that they carried him from the bottom of the wall and laid him in this room. Dame Prudence hand-feeds Adam because he cannot move. He misses Nick and finds comfort only in having his harp in bed with him.

Adam stays in bed at the church for roughly a month before he can manage to move without getting dizzy. When he is better, Master Walter and Dame Prudence expect Adam to learn from the parish clerk and eventually take the clerk’s place. They give him parish clothes and throw away his minstrel’s robes. Adam is shocked and disappointed because he does not want to be a clerk, but he sees no other option. He continues to search Winchester for Roger and Nick, but the fair is over, and Adam doesn’t find them.

One day, he runs into a family of minstrels in an alley. He tells them that he is the son of Roger Quartermayne, and they recognize Roger’s name. The family tells Adam that they saw Roger at St. Giles Fair, and Roger got into a fight with the minstrel named Jankin over a dog. Roger was taken to the Fair’s court and was asked to leave because the magistrate couldn’t understand why a man would fight Jankin over gaining a warhorse and losing a dog.

Adam is crushed to learn that Roger was nearby while he was stuck in bed. The family pities him and tells him that Roger will likely return to Sir Edmund de Lisle’s estate for Christmas, and he is probably expecting Adam to meet him there. They invite Adam to join them because they are traveling in that direction. The de Vesey family includes a husband and a wife, Jack and Allison, and two boys, Lawrence and Andrew. Adam accepts their invitation and buys parchment and ink to write a note of gratitude and farewell to Dame Prudence; he uses the rest of his money to buy dinner for himself and the de Veseys.

Adam travels with the de Vesey family for several weeks. At first, it rains. Then there is a warm spell, followed by constant rains through the month of November. Adam longs more and more for his father. The de Veseys are kind but are a different sort of minstrel than Roger and often make Adam uncomfortable. They tell crude stories that make fun of the church, while Roger’s stories inspire goodness in people. They do not keep their word to Adam: They never begin the journey toward London and the de Lisle house, do not allow Adam to perform, and make him share his harp with Andrew. They make very little money and are forced to go hungry for many days at a time.

While they are on the road in the king’s forest, Adam tells them the story of the robbery that happened on that same road. One of the sons, Lawrence, shocks the family by saying he would eat meat caught in the king’s forest, even though doing so is punishable by blinding. He claims that it is not fair for some to have so much when others have so little.

They arrive in Farnham, where Lawrence disappears. He reappears with food shoved in the front of his shirt. The family stands in a dark alley and devours the food, finally feeling full. Adam hears shouting in the street and realizes that Lawrence stole the food they just ate. The family runs nine miles to the nearest town, Guildford.

They arrive in Guildford after curfew and must sneak around the town. A guard sees them and raises a hue and cry, awakening the whole town and starting a hunt for the de Veseys. They all scatter and run. Adam hides alone beneath a bridge.

While hiding beneath the bridge, Adam decides not to continue traveling with the de Veseys if the town guard doesn’t catch them. To keep himself awake through the night, Adam recites his favorite story to himself: the tale of Havelok the Dane. In the story, a young prince, Havelok, and his sisters are locked in a tower so another man can take the throne after the death of their father, the king. The usurper hires a fisherman to kill Prince Havelok, but the fisherman cares for the boy and tells him, “Sleep son, sleep tight, and fear nothing. Your sorrow has turned to joy” (253).

When morning dawns, Adam starts his journey toward London and the de Lisle house and writes a song with four verses about his losses: his money; his harp; Nick; and Roger. He meets a peddler, with whom he trades a song and a story in exchange for some food. He adds another verse to his song about hunger. The peddler applauds and shares his food with Adam, telling Adam that a hue and cry was raised last night and that the thieves, 10 large men with shining red eyes, all escaped.

Adam nearly laughs at this, knowing that the thieves were himself and the de Vesey family. He is glad the family wasn’t caught. Adam and the peddler travel together to the inn where Adam lost his dog long ago. The innkeeper recognizes Adam and tells him that Roger stopped there and retrieved Bayard, the warhorse that Jankin “traded” Roger for Nick there. Roger then continued on to London and the de Lisle house. Adam plans to follow his father there.