Outlawed you are from this day forward, but wolf's head [ii] you shall not be.

None in all Wessex shalt harbour you or aid you, but none shall you harm, save you harm them.

Go hence from this place and from this land, to some land where no man knows you; and so shall you rest again." Now, had I not been blinded with rage and shame, I might have seen that there was mercy in this sentence, and hope also.

For I had seen a man outlawed once, and given a day's start, like some wild beast, in which to fly from the hand of every man that would seek his life.

But I was to be safe from such harm, and but that I must go hence, I was not to be hounded forth, nor was my shame to be published beyond Wessex.