"Would that cure the black death, master?" asked Jenkin.

"Aye, truly would it, my fair son."

"Then I am right glad that there were none who knew of it. The
black death is the best friend that ever the common folk had in
England."

"How that then?" asked Hordle John.

"Why, friend, it is easy to see that you have not worked with
your hands or you would not need to ask. When half the folk in
the country were dead it was then that the other half could pick
and choose who they would work for, and for what wage. That is
why I say that the murrain was the best friend that the borel
folk ever had."

"True, Jenkin," said another workman; "but it is not all good
that is brought by it either. We well know that through it
corn-land has been turned into pasture, so that flocks of sheep
with perchance a single shepherd wander now where once a hundred
men had work and wage."

"There is no great harm in that," remarked the tooth-drawer, "for
the sheep give many folk their living. There is not only the
herd, but the shearer and brander, and then the dresser, the
curer, the dyer, the fuller, the webster, the merchant, and a
score of others."

"If it come to that." said one of the foresters, "the tough meat