LII Of a bell that was ordered in King John’s days
Edward Storer translation
It happened that the bell had lasted a long time and the rope had wasted, so that a vine clung to it.
Now it befell that a knight of Acre had a noble charger which had grown old, so that it had lost its worth, and the knight, to avoid the expense of its keep, let it wander about. The famished horse tugged at the vine to eat it. As it tugged, the bell rang.
The judges assembled, and understood the petition of the horse who, it seemed, asked for justice. They sentenced that the knight whom the horse had served when it was young, should feed it now that it was old.
The King commanded him to do so under grave penalties.