one on a ladder, one bent down to his digging,
and each was fast bound in his own work.
Then they were all brought to the bishop,
and he commanded men to hang them all on a high gallows;
but he was not mindful how the merciful God
spake through His prophet the words which here stand;
Eos qui ducuntur ad mortem eruere ne cesses
those who are led to death deliver thou alway.
And also the holy canons forbid clerics,
both bishops and priests, to be concerned about thieves,
because it becometh not them that are chosen
to serve God, that they should consent
to any man's death, if they be the Lord's servants.
Then Theodred the bishop, after he had searched his books,
rued with lamentation that he had awarded such a cruel doom
to these unhappy thieves, and ever deplored it
to his life's end; and earnestly prayed the people
to fast with him fully three days,
praying the Almighty that He would have pity upon him.
In that land was a certain man called Leofstan,
rich in worldly things, and ignorant towards God,
who rode with great insolence to the saint's shrine,
and very arrogantly commanded them to show him
the holy saint, (to see) whether he were incorrupt;
but as soon as he saw the saint's body,
then he straightway raved and roared horribly,
and miserably ended by an evil death.
