The Tale of Ralph the Collier has come down to us in a single copy, a book printed by Robert Lekpreuik at St Andrews in 1572. Its story runs as follows. One day, as King Charles (i.e. Charlemagne) and his knights are on their way to Paris, they are surprised by a terrible storm, and Charles is separated from his companions. Fearing for his life, he is relieved to meet a collier (i.e. a charcoal burner) who does not recognize him as the king but who agrees to take him into his home. Charles is well looked after, but roughly treated by his host when he does not do as he is told. When Ralph asks his guest for his name, Charles calls himself Wymond of the Wardrobe, one of the Queen's chamber servants. Before returning to the court in Paris, ‘Wymond’ invites the collier to meet him at court the next day with a load of charcoal to sell. Ralph duly leaves for Paris to find ‘Wymond’. In anticipation of his arrival, Charles sends Roland out into the countryside with orders to bring back any traveller he meets. However, the only person Roland encounters is a collier, who is most uncooperative when ordered to come along, insisting that it is his duty to meet Wymond, not the the king. When it transpires that Ralph is in any case on his way to the king's court to meet Wymond, the standoff between the two is momentarily resolved, though they arrange to fight a duel in the same place the next day.