THE SCENE: Sir Bevis seems to care a lot more about what happens to his horse, Arundel, than he cares about what happened to the boy the horse brained – the king’s son.
THE TEXT: The king’s son asked Bevis to give Arundel to him as a gift. Bevis answered: ‘Sir, this horse will suffer nobody to touch him except for myself, it’s just his disposition, and for anybody else to go near him is just foolishness.’
While Bevis was carrying out his responsibilities one day, the king’s son, like the fool that he was, went to the stables and attempted to untie Arundel. The horse kicked him so hard with a back hoof that the young man’s brains were splattered against the stable wall.
There was much sorrow and weeping when this incident was discovered. The king swore that Bevis should be hanged and then pulled apart by wild horses, but a nobleman spoke up: ‘Sir king, that would be against the law. You can only give that punishment to the perpetrator of the crime, which is the horse.’
‘No!’ exclaimed Bevis, ‘I won’t let any harm come to Arundel, not for anything. I’d rather let harm come to England, if this is the price for saving my horse.’
– Sir Bevis of Hampton, 13th Century AD
