When Ywaine ran mad because he had lost his wife’s love by staying away from her too long, he seized bow and arrows from a serving-lad and lived in the woods on raw meat alone until he happend upon the hut of a poor hermit.
This man reacted with both fear and charity, fleeing into his house but setting out a pitcher of pure water and some of his own very coarse barley bread. Maddened though he was, Ywaine promptly fell into the habit of returning to the hermit’s house every day and leaving a slain beast in return for his bread and water.
The good man probably ate the meat and certainly sold the skins and bought better bread. He sounds like a practical fellow, and may have been a bit sorry when Ywaine was found and restored to sanity.
D.D.R. Owen points to a comparison with Tristram’s Ogrine (Brother Ogrins).