Appendix
THE PLAY OF ROBIN HOOD
(1–110)
#a.#
Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 192, as printed by William Copland, at the end of his edition of the Gest.
#b.#
As printed by Edward White, at the end of his edition of the Gest: Bodleian Library, Z. 3. Art. Seld.
ROBYN HODE
Now stand ye forth, my mery men all, And harke what I shall say; Of an adventure I shal you tell, The which befell this other day. As I went by the hygh way, 5 With a stout frere I met, And a quarter-staffe in his hande. Lyghtely to me he lept, And styll he bade me stande. There were strypes two or three, 10 But I cannot tell who had the worse, But well I wote the horeson lept within me, And fro me he toke my purse. Is there any of my mery men all That to that frere wyll go, 15 And bryng hym to me forth withall, Whether he wyll or no?
LYTELL JOHN
Yes, mayster, I make God avowe, To that frere wyll I go, And bring him to you, 20 Whether he wyl or no.
FRYER TUCKE
Deus hic! deus hic! God be here! Is not this a holy worde for a frere? God save all this company! But am not I a jolly fryer? 25 For I can shote both farre and nere, And handle the sworde and buckler, And this quarter-staffe also. If I mete with a gentylman or yeman, I am not afrayde to loke hym upon, 30 Nor boldly with him to carpe; If he speake any wordes to me, He shall have strypes two or thre, That shal make his body smarte. But, maisters, to shew you the matter 35 Wherfore and why I am come hither, In fayth I wyll not spare. I am come to seke a good yeman, In Bernisdale men sai is his habitacion, His name is Robyn Hode. 40 And if that he be better man than I, His servaunt wyll I be, and serve him truely; But if that I be better man than he, By my truth my knave shall he be, And leade these dogges all three. 45
ROBYN HODE
Yelde the, fryer, in thy long cote.
FRYER TUCKE
I beshrew thy hart, knave, thou hurtest my throt[e].
ROBYN HODE
I trowe, fryer, thou beginnest to dote; Who made the so malapert and so bolde To come into this forest here, 50 Amonge my falowe dere?
FRYER
Go louse the, ragged knave. If thou make mani wordes, I will geve the on the eare, Though I be but a poore fryer. To seke Robyn Hode I am com here, 55 And to him my hart to breke.
ROBYN HODE
Thou lousy frer, what wouldest thou with hym? He never loved fryer, nor none of freiers kyn.
FRYER
Avaunt, ye ragged knave! Or ye shall have on the skynne. 60
ROBYN HODE
Of all the men in the morning thou art the worst, To mete with the I have no lust; For he that meteth a frere or a fox in the morning, To spede ill that day he standeth in jeoperdy. Therfore I had lever mete with the devil of hell, 65 (Fryer, I tell the as I thinke,) Then mete with a fryer or a fox In a mornyng, or I drynk.
FRYER
Avaunt, thou ragged knave! this is but a mock; If thou make mani words thou shal have a knock. 70
ROBYN HODE
Harke, frere, what I say here: Over this water thou shalt me bere, The brydge is borne away.
FRYER
To say naye I wyll not; To let the of thine oth it were great pitie and sin; 75 But up on a fryers backe, and have even in!
ROBYN HODE
Nay, have over.
FRYER
Now am I, frere, within, and thou, Robin, without, To lay the here I have no great doubt. Now art thou, Robyn, without, and I, frere, within, 80 Lye ther, knave; chose whether thou wilte sinke or swym.
ROBYN HODE
Why, thou lowsy frere, what hast thou done?
FRYER
Mary, set a knave over the shone.
ROBYN HODE
Therfore thou shalt abye.
FRYER
Why, wylt thou fyght a plucke? 85
ROBYN HODE
And God send me good lucke.
FRYER
Than have a stroke for fryer Tucke.
ROBYN HODE
Holde thy hande, frere, and here me speke.
FRYER
Say on, ragged knave, Me semeth ye begyn to swete. 90
ROBYN HODE
In this forest I have a hounde, I wyl not give him for an hundreth pound. Geve me leve my horne to blowe, That my hounde may knowe.
FRYER
Blowe on, ragged knave, without any doubte, 95 Untyll bothe thyne eyes starte out. Here be a sorte of ragged knaves come in, Clothed all in Kendale grene, And to the they take their way nowe.
ROBYN HODE
Peradventure they do so. 100
FRYER
I gave the leve to blowe at thy wyll, Now give me leve to whistell my fyll.
ROBYN HODE
Whystell, frere, evyl mote thou fare! Untyll bothe thyne eyes stare.
FRYER
Now Cut and Bause! 105 Breng forth the clubbes and staves, And downe with those ragged knaves!
ROBYN HODE
How sayest thou, frere, wylt thou be my man, To do me the best servyse thou can? Thou shalt have both golde and fee. 110
* * * * *
After ten lines of ribaldry, which have no pertinency to the traditional Robin Hood and Friar, the play abruptly passes to the adventure of Robin Hood and the Potter.
#a.#
Ritson has been followed, without collation with Copland.
35. maister.
64. spede ell.
70. you, you for thou, thou.
82. donee.
104. starte.
#b.#
13. he wanting.
15. to the.
23. word of.
31. Not.
35. maister.
41. if he.
43. be a.
59. ye wanting.
61. in a.
65. had rather: of hell wanting.
70. y^u: y^u shalt.
81. choose either sinke.
97. Here is.
103. might thou.
104. stare.
124
THE JOLLY PINDER OF WAKEFIELD
#A. a.# Wood, 402, leaf 43. #b.# Garland of 1663, No 4. #c.# Garland of 1670, No 3. #d.# Pepys, II, 100, No 87 a. #e.# Wood, 401, leaf 61 b.
#B.# Percy MS., p. 15; Hales and Furnivall, I, 32.
Printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 16, from one of Wood’s copies, “compared with two other copies in the British Museum, one in black letter:” Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 99.
There is another copy in the Roxburghe collection, III, 24, and there are two in the Bagford.
‘A ballett of Wakefylde and a grene’ is entered to Master John Wallye and Mistress Toye, 19 July, 1557–9 July, 1558: Stationers’ Registers, Arber, I, 76.
The ballad is one of four, besides the Gest, that were known to the author of the Life of Robin Hood in Sloane MS., 715, which dates from the end of the seventeenth century. It is thoroughly lyrical, and therein “like the old age,” and was pretty well sung to pieces before it ever was printed. A snatch of it is sung, as Ritson has observed, in each of the Robin Hood plays, The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington, by Anthony Munday, and The Death of Robert, Earl of Huntington, by A. Munday and Henry Chettle, both printed in 1601.
At Michaelmas cometh my covenant out, My master gives me my fee; Then, Robin, I’ll wear thy Kendall green, And wend to the greenwood with thee.
O there dwelleth a jolly pinder At Wakefield all on a green.[104]
Silence sings the line ‘And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John,’ 3^2, in the Second Part of King Henry Fourth, V, 3, and Falstaff addresses Bardolph as Scarlet and John in the first scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor. In Beaumont and Fletcher’s Philaster, V, 4, Dyce, I, 295, we have: “Let not ... your Robinhoods, Scarlets, and Johns tie your affections in darkness to your shops.” Scarlet and John, comrades of Robin Hood from the beginning, are prominent in many ballads.
Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John have left the highway and made a path over the corn,[105] apparently in defiance of the Pinder of Wakefield, who has the fame of being able to exact a penalty of trespassers, whatever their rank. The Pinder bids them turn again; they, being three to one, scorn to comply. The Pinder fights with them till their swords are broken. Robin cries Hold! and asks the Pinder to join his company in the greenwood. This the Pinder is ready to do at Michaelmas, when his engagement to his present master will be terminated. Robin asks for meat and drink, and the Pinder offers him bread, beef, and ale.
The adventure of the ballad is naturally introduced into the play of George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield, printed in 1599, reprinted in Dodsley’s Old Plays (the third volume of the edition of 1825), and by Dyce among the works of Robert Greene. George a Greene fights with Scarlet, and beats him; then with Much (not John), and beats him; then with Robin Hood. Robin protests he is the stoutest champion that ever he laid hands on, and says:
George, wilt thou forsake Wakefield And go with me? Two liveries will I give thee every year, And forty crowns shall be thy fee.
George welcomes Robin to his house, offering him wafer-cakes, beef, mutton, and veal. (Dyce, II, 196 f.)
The scene in the play is found in the prose history of George a Green, London, 1706, of which a copy is known, no doubt substantially the same, of the date 1632. The Pinner here fells ‘Slathbatch,’ Little John, and the Friar, before his bout with Robin. See Thoms, A Collection of Early Prose Romances, II, 44–47, and the prefaces, p. viii ff, p. xviii f, for more about the popularity of the Pinner’s story.
Wakefield is in the West Riding of the county of York.
Richard Brathwayte, in a poetical epistle “to all true-bred northerne sparks of the generous society of the Cottoneers,” Strappado for the Divell, 1615 (cited by Ritson, Robin Hood, ed. 1795, I, xxvii-ix), speaks of
The Pindar’s valour, and how firme he stood In th’ townes defence gainst th’ rebel Robin Hood; How stoutly he behav’d himselfe, and would, In spite of Robin, bring his horse to th’ fold:
from which we might infer that according to one account the Pinder had impounded Robin’s horse. But as Robin Hood, in this passage, is confounded with the rebel Earl of Kendal, or some one of his adherents, it is safe to suppose that Brathwayte has been twice inaccurate.[106]
The ballad is so imperfect that one might be in doubt whether the Pinder fights with Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John all together or successively. But to suppose the Pinder capable of dealing with all three at once would be monstrous, and we see from the History and from Greene’s play that the Pinder must take them one after the other, and Robin the last of the three.
There are seven other ballads, besides The Pinder of Wakefield, in which Robin Hood, after trying his strength with a stout fellow, and coming off somewhat or very much the worse, induces his antagonist to enlist in his company. Several of these are very late, and most of them imitations, we may say, of the Pinder, or one of the other. These ballads are: Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar; Robin Hood and Little John; Robin Hood and the Tanner; Robin Hood and the Tinker, 28 ff; Robin Hood Revived; Robin Hood and the Ranger; Robin Hood and the Scotchman. We might add Robin Hood and Maid Marian. The episode of Little John and the Cook, in the Gest, 165–171, is after the same pattern. There is another set in which a contest of a like description does not result in an accession to the outlaw-band. These are Robin Hood and the Potter; Robin Hood and the Butcher; Robin Hood and the Beggar, I; Robin Hood and the Beggar, II (Robin Hood first beaten, then three of his men severely handled); Robin Hood and the Shepherd (Robin Hood overmastered, Little John on the point of being beaten, etc.); The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood (John outmatched first, then his master); Robin Hood’s Delight (combat between Robin Hood, Little John, and Scadlock and three Keepers); Robin Hood and the Pedlars (again three to three).
There are, as might be expected, frequent verbal agreements in these ballads, and many of them are collected by Fricke, Die Robin-Hood-Balladen, pp 91–95.
The fights in these ballads last from an hour, Gest, st. 168, to a long summer’s day, in this ballad, st. 6. In Robin Hood and Maid Marian, st. 11, the time is at least an hour, or more; in Robin Hood and the Tanner, st. 20, two hours and more; in Robin Hood and the Ranger, st. 12, three hours; in Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, #B# 24, and Robin Hood and the Shepherd, st. 11, from ten o’clock till four; in Robin Hood’s Delight, st. 11, from eight o’clock till two, and past.
A
#a.# Wood, 402, leaf 43. #b.# Garland of 1663, No 4. #c.# Garland of 1670, No 3. #d.# Pepys, II, 100, No 87 a. #e.# Wood, 401, leaf 61 b.
1 In Wakefield there lives a jolly pinder, In Wakefield, all on a green; (bis)
2 ‘There is neither knight nor squire,’ said the pinder, ‘Nor baron that is so bold, (bis) Dare make a trespasse to the town of Wakefield, But his pledge goes to the pinfold.’ (bis)
3 All this beheard three witty young men, ’Twas Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John; With that they spyed the jolly pinder, As he sate under a thorn.
4 ‘Now turn again, turn again,’ said the pinder, ‘For a wrong way have you gone; For you have forsaken the king his highway, And made a path over the corn.’
5 ‘O that were great shame,’ said jolly Robin, ‘We being three, and thou but one:’ The pinder leapt back then thirty good foot, ’Twas thirty good foot and one.
6 He leaned his back fast unto a thorn, And his foot unto a stone, And there he fought a long summer’s day, A summer’s day so long, Till that their swords, on their broad bucklers, Were broken fast unto their hands.
* * * * *
7 ‘Hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ said Robin Hood, ‘And my merry men euery one; For this is one of the best pinders That ever I try’d with sword.
8 ‘And wilt thou forsake thy pinder his craft, And live in [the] green wood with me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9 ‘At Michaelmas next my covnant comes out, When every man gathers his fee; I’le take my blew blade all in my hand, And plod to the green wood with thee.’
10 ‘Hast thou either meat or drink,’ said Robin Hood, ‘For my merry men and me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11 ‘I have both bread and beef,’ said the pinder, ‘And good ale of the best;’ ‘And that is meat good enough,’ said Robin Hood, ‘For such unbidden guest.
12 ‘O wilt thou forsake the pinder his craft, And go to the green wood with me? Thou shalt have a livery twice in the year, The one green, the other brown [shall be].’
13 ‘If Michaelmas day were once come and gone And my master had paid me my fee, Then would I set as little by him As my master doth set by me.’
B
Percy MS., p. 15; Hales and Furnivall, I, 32.
* * * * *
1 ‘But hold y . . hold y . . .’ says Robin, ‘My merrymen, I bid yee, For this [is] one of the best pindars That euer I saw w_i_th mine eye.
2 ‘But hast thou any meat, thou iolly pindar, For my merrymen and me?’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3 ‘But I haue bread and cheese,’ sayes the pindar, ‘And ale all on the best:’ ‘That’s cheere good enoughe,’ said Robin, ‘For any such vnbidden guest.
4 ‘But wilt be my man?’ said good Robin, ‘And come and dwell w_i_th me? And twise in a yeere thy clothing [shall] be changed If my man thou wilt bee, The tone shall be of light Lincolne greene, The tother of Picklory.’
5 ‘Att Michallmas comes a well good time, When men haue gotten in their ffee; I’le sett as litle by my m_aster_ As he now setts by me, I’le take my benbowe in my hande, And come into the grenwoode to thee.’
* * * * *
#A.#
The second and fourth lines were repeated in singing.
#a.#
The Iolly Pinder of Wakefield.
Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and W. G[i]lber[t]son. (F. Coles, 1646–1674; T. Vere, 1648–1680; W. Gilbertson, 1640–1663. Chappell.)
1^1. their.
3^1. witty, which all have, is a corruption of wight.
10^1. laid.
13^4. by my.
#b#, #c#.
Robin Hood and the jolly Pinder of Wakefield, shewing how he fought with Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John a long summer’s day. To a Northern tune.
#b.#
1^1. there dwels.
2^4. it goes.
4^1. saith.
5^1. a for great: saith.
11^2. all.
11^3. that’s.
12^1. thy for the.
#c.#
4^3. king’s high.
6^2. fast unto.
6^4. And a.
6^5. that wanting.
9^1. covenants.
10^1. thou wanting.
#d.#
The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield with Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.
Printed by and for Alex. Milbourn, in Green-Arbor Court, in the Little Old-Baily. (A. Milbourn, 1670–1697. Chappell.)
3^3. espy’d.
3^4. sat.
4^2. you have.
4^3. the kings.
5^1. a for great.
6^2. foot against.
6^3. they for he.
6^6. broke.
8^1. pinders craft.
8^2. in the.
13^1. was come.
13^4. set wanting.
#e.#
The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield: with Robin Hood, Scarlet and John.
No printer’s name.
3^3. espyed.
3^4. sat.
4^2. you have.
4^3. kings.
6^1. foot against.
6^6. broke.
8^1. pinders craft.
13^1. was come.
13^4. set wanting.
Pepys Penny Merriments Garland: according to Hales and Furnivall.
6^4. And a.
6^5. that wanting.
10^1. thou wanting.
12^1. thy pinder.
Gutch, Robin Hood, II, 144 f, says that the Roxburghe copy has in 3^1 wight yeomen.
He prints 7^{2–4}: And my merry men stand aside; For this is one of the best pinders That with sword ever I tryed.
8^{3–4}. Thou shalt have a livery twice in the year, Th’one greene, tither brown shall be.
These parts of stanzas 7, 8 he gives as from a black-letter copy, which he does not describe.
#B.#
1^{1,2} make half a stanza in the MS., and 1^{3,4} are joined with 2^{1,2}. 4^{5,6} and 5^{1,2} make a stanza. It is not supposed that 4 and 5 were originally stanzas of six lines, but rather that, one half of each of two stanzas having been forgotten, the other has attached itself to a complete stanza which chanced to have the same rhyme. Stanzas of six lines, formed in this way, are common in traditional ballads.
3^4. guests.
4^3. 2[s :]. in.
125
ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN
#a.# A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, I, 75. #b.# Aldermary Garland, by R. Marshall, n. d., No 22.
Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 138; Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 204. There is a bad copy in a Robin Hood’s Garland of 1749.
“This ballad,” says Ritson, “is named in a schedule of such things under an agreement between W. Thackeray and others in 1689, Col. Pepys, vol. 5.” It occurs in a list of ballads printed for and sold by William Thackeray at the Angel in Duck-Lane (see The Ballad Society’s reprint of the Roxburghe Ballads, W. Chappell, I, xxiv, from a copy in the Bagford collection), but by some caprice of fortune has not, so far as is known, come down in the broadside form, neither is it found in the older garlands.
Robin Hood and Little John belongs to a set of ballads which have middle rhyme in the third line of the stanza, and are directed to be sung to one and the same tune. These are: R. H. and the Bishop, R. H. and the Beggar, R. H. and the Tanner, to the tune of R. H. and the Stranger; R. H. and the Butcher, R. H.’s Chase, Little John and the Four Beggars, to the tune of R. H. and the Beggar; R. H. and Little John, R. H. and the Ranger, to the tune of Arthur a Bland (that is, R. H. and the Tanner). There is no ballad with the title Robin Hood and the Stranger. Ritson thought it proper to give this title to a ballad which uniformly bears the title of Robin Hood Newly Revived, No 128, because Robin’s antagonist is repeatedly called “the stranger” in it. But Robin’s antagonist is equally often called “the stranger” in the present ballad (eleven times in each), and Robin Hood and Little John has the middle rhyme in the third line, which Robin Hood Newly Revived has not (excepting in seven stanzas at the end, which are a portion of a different ballad, Robin Hood and the Scotchman). Robin Hood and Little John (and Robin Hood Newly Revived as well) would naturally be referred to as Robin Hood and the Stranger, for the same reason that Robin Hood and the Tanner is referred to as Arthur a Bland. The fact that the middle rhyme in the third line is found in Robin Hood and Little John, but is lacking in Robin Hood Newly Revived, gives a slightly superior probability to the supposition that the former, or rather some older version of it (for the one we have is in a rank seventeenth-century style), had the secondary title of Robin Hood and the Stranger.[107]
Like Robin Hood’s Progress to Nottingham, this ballad affects, in the right apocryphal way, to know an adventure of Robin’s early life. Though but twenty years old, Robin has a company of threescore and nine bowmen. With all these he shakes hands one morning, and goes through the forest alone, prudently enjoining on the band to come to his help if he should blow his horn. He meets a stranger on a narrow bridge, and neither will give way. Robin threatens the stranger with an arrow, which, as he requires to be reminded, is cowardly enough, seeing that the other man has nothing but a staff. Recalled to ordinary manliness, Robin Hood, laying down his bow, provides himself with an oaken stick, and proposes a battle on the bridge, which he shall be held to win who knocks the other into the water in the end. In the end the stranger tumbles Robin into the brook, and is owned to have won the day. The band are now summoned by the horn, and when they hear what the stranger has done are about to seize and duck him, but are ordered to forbear. Robin Hood proposes to his antagonist that he shall join his men, and John Little, as he declares his name to be, accedes. John Little is seven foot tall.[108] Will Stutely says his name must be changed, and they rebaptize the “infant” as Little John.
‘A pastorall plesant commedie of Robin Hood and Little John, etc.,’ is entered to Edward White in the Stationers’ Registers, May 14, 1594, and ‘Robin Hood and Litle John’ to Master Oulton, April 22, 1640. (Arber, II, 649, IV, 507.)
Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 65.
1 When Robin Hood was about twenty years old, With a hey down down and a down He happend to meet Little John, A jolly brisk blade, right fit for the trade, For he was a lusty young man.
2 Tho he was calld Little, his limbs they were large, And his stature was seven foot high; Where-ever he came, they quak’d at his name, For soon he would make them to fly.
3 How they came acquainted, I’ll tell you in brief, If you will but listen a while; For this very jest, amongst all the rest, I think it may cause you to smile.
4 Bold Robin Hood said to his jolly bowmen, Pray tarry you here in this grove; And see that you all observe well my call, While thorough the forest I rove.
5 We have had no sport for these fourteen long days, Therefore now abroad will I go; Now should I be beat, and cannot retreat, My horn I will presently blow.
6 Then did he shake hands with his merry men all, And bid them at present good b’w’ye; Then, as near a brook his journey he took, A stranger he chancd to espy.
7 They happend to meet on a long narrow bridge, And neither of them would give way; Quoth bold Robin Hood, and sturdily stood, I’ll show you right Nottingham play.
8 With that from his quiver an arrow he drew, A broad arrow with a goose-wing: The stranger reply’d, I’ll liquor thy hide, If thou offerst to touch the string.
9 Quoth bold Robin Hood, Thou dost prate like an ass, For were I to bend but my bow, I could send a dart quite thro thy proud heart, Before thou couldst strike me one blow.
10 ‘Thou talkst like a coward,’ the stranger reply’d; ‘Well armd with a long bow you stand, To shoot at my breast, while I, I protest, Have nought but a staff in my hand.’
11 ‘The name of a coward,’ quoth Robin, ‘I scorn, Wherefore my long bow I’ll lay by; And now, for thy sake, a staff will I take, The truth of thy manhood to try.’
12 Then Robin Hood stept to a thicket of trees, And chose him a staff of ground-oak; Now this being done, away he did run To the stranger, and merrily spoke:
13 Lo! see my staff, it is lusty and tough, Now here on the bridge we will play; Whoever falls in, the other shall win The battel, and so we’ll away.
14 ‘With all my whole heart,’ the stranger reply’d; ‘I scorn in the least to give out;’ This said, they fell to ‘t without more dispute, And their staffs they did flourish about.
15 And first Robin he gave the stranger a bang, So hard that it made his bones ring: The stranger he said, This must be repaid, I’ll give you as good as you bring.
16 So long as I’m able to handle my staff, To die in your debt, friend, I scorn: Then to it each goes, and followd their blows, As if they had been threshing of corn.
17 The stranger gave Robin a crack on the crown, Which caused the blood to appear; Then Robin, enrag’d, more fiercely engag’d, And followd his blows more severe.
18 So thick and so fast did he lay it on him, With a passionate fury and ire, At every stroke, he made him to smoke, As if he had been all on fire.
19 O then into fury the stranger he grew, And gave him a damnable look, And with it a blow that laid him full low, And tumbld him into the brook.
20 ‘I prithee, good fellow, O where art thou now?’ The stranger, in laughter, he cry’d; Quoth bold Robin Hood, Good faith, in the flood, And floating along with the tide.
21 I needs must acknowledge thou art a brave soul; With thee I’ll no longer contend; For needs must I say, thou hast got the day, Our battel shall be at an end.
22 Then unto the bank he did presently wade, And pulld himself out by a thorn; Which done, at the last, he blowd a loud blast Straitway on his fine bugle-horn.
23 The eccho of which through the vallies did fly, At which his stout bowmen appeard, All cloathed in green, most gay to be seen; So up to their master they steerd.
24 ‘O what’s the matter?’ quoth William Stutely; ‘Good master, you are wet to the skin:’ ‘No matter,’ quoth he; ‘the lad which you see, In fighting, hath tumbld me in.’
25 ‘He shall not go scot-free,’ the others reply’d; So strait they were seizing him there, To duck him likewise; but Robin Hood cries, He is a stout fellow, forbear.
26 There’s no one shall wrong thee, friend, be not afraid; These bowmen upon me do wait; There’s threescore and nine; if thou wilt be mine, Thou shalt have my livery strait.
27 And other accoutrements fit for a man; Speak up, jolly blade, never fear; I’ll teach you also the use of the bow, To shoot at the fat fallow-deer.
28 ‘O here is my hand,’ the stranger reply’d, ‘I’ll serve you with all my whole heart; My name is John Little, a man of good mettle; Nere doubt me, for I’ll play my part.’
29 His name shall be alterd,’ quoth William Stutely, ‘And I will his godfather be; Prepare then a feast, and none of the least, For we will be merry,’ quoth he.
30 They presently fetchd in a brace of fat does, With humming strong liquor likewise; They lovd what was good; so, in the greenwood, This pretty sweet babe they baptize.
31 He was, I must tell you, but seven foot high, And, may be, an ell in the waste; A pretty sweet lad; much feasting they had; Bold Robin the christning grac’d.
32 With all his bowmen, which stood in a ring, And were of the Notti[n]gham breed; Brave Stutely comes then, with seven yeomen, And did in this manner proceed.
33 ‘This infant was called John Little,’ quoth he, ‘Which name shall be changed anon; The words we’ll transpose, so where-ever he goes, His name shall be calld Little John.’
34 They all with a shout made the elements ring, So soon as the office was ore; To feasting they went, with true merriment, And tippld strong liquor gillore.
35 Then Robin he took the pretty sweet babe, And cloathd him from top to the toe In garments of green, most gay to be seen, And gave him a curious long bow.
36 ‘Thou shalt be an archer as well as the best, And range in the greenwood with us; Where we’ll not want gold nor silver, behold, While bishops have ought in their purse.
37 ‘We live here like squires, or lords of renown, Without ere a foot of free land; We feast on good cheer, with wine, ale, and beer, And evry thing at our command.’
38 Then musick and dancing did finish the day; At length, when the sun waxed low, Then all the whole train the grove did refrain, And unto their caves they did go.
39 And so ever after, as long as he livd, Altho he was proper and tall, Yet nevertheless, the truth to express, Still Little John they did him call.
* * * * *
#a.#
Title. Robin Hood and Little John. Being an account of their first meeting, their fierce encounter, and conquest. To which is added, their friendly agreement, and how he came to be calld Little John.
To the tune of Arthur a Bland.
#b.#
Title as in #a#.
2^2. statue.
3^2. you would.
3^3. among.
3^4. it wanting.
4^3. his for my, wrongly.
5^1. for wanting.
5^3. be wanting.
8^4. offer.
9^2. where I do bend.
11^2. Therefore.
11^3. I will.
13^1. it wanting.
13^2. on this.
15^1. And first: he wanting.
15^2. he for it.
16^1. a for my.
16^3. both goes, and follow.
18^1. he did.
19^1. in a fury.
19^3. which for that.
20^1. O wanting.
22^3. blew.
23^1. did ring.
23^4. their matter.
24^3. that for which.
27^1. fitting also.
30^1. him for in.
30^4. baptiz’d.
31^1. feet.
31^3. He was a sweet.
32^3. came.
34^4. liquors.
35^2. the wanting.
39^1. they for he.
39^2. he be.
126
ROBIN HOOD AND THE TANNER
#a.# Wood, 401, leaf 9 b.
#b.# Garland of 1663, No 10.
#c.# Garland of 1670, No 9.
#d.# Pepys, II, 111, No 98.
Printed in Old Ballads, 1723, I, 83.
#a# was printed by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 30. Evans has an indifferent copy, probably edited, in his Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 112.
Arthur a Bland, a Nottingham tanner, goes of a summer’s morning into Sherwood forest to see the red deer. Robin Hood pretends to be a keeper and to see cause for staying the Tanner. The Tanner says it will take more than one such to make him stand. They have a two hours’ fight with staves, when Robin cries Hold! The Tanner henceforth shall be free of the forest, and if he will come and live there with Robin Hood shall have both gold and fee. Arthur a Bland gives his hand never to part from Robin, and asks for Little John, whom he declares to be his kinsman. Robin Hood blows his horn. Little John comes at the call, and, learning what has been going on, would like to try a bout with the Tanner, but after a little explanation throws himself upon his kinsman’s neck. The three take hands for a dance round the oak-tree.
The sturdy Arthur a Bland is well hit off, and, bating the sixteenth and thirty-fifth stanzas, the ballad has a good popular ring. There is corruption at 8^3, 12^3, and perhaps 13^3.
Little John offers to fight with the Tinker in No 127, and again with the Stranger in No 128, as here with the Tanner, and is forbidden, as here, by his master. In R. H. and the Shepherd, No 135, he undertakes the Shepherd after Robin has owned himself conquered, and the fight is stopped after John has received some sturdy blows. In the Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood, No 132, John begins and Robin follows, and each in turn cries, Pedlar, pray hold your hand. In R. H. and the Potter, No 121, John is ready to bet on the Potter, because he has already had strokes from him which he has reason to remember.
As the Tanner is John’s cousin, so, in Robin Hood Revived, No 128, the Stranger turns out to be Robin Hood’s nephew, Young Gamwell, thenceforward called Scathlock; and in No 132 the Bold Pedlar proves to be Gamble Gold, Robin’s cousin.
Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 117.
1 In Nottingham there lives a jolly tanner, With a hey down down a down down His name is Arthur a Bland; There is nere a squire in Nottinghamshire Dare bid bold Arthur stand.
2 With a long pike-staff upon his shoulder, So well he can clear his way; By two and by three he makes them to flee, For he hath no list to stay.
3 And as he went forth, in a summer’s morning, Into the forrest of merry Sherwood, To view the red deer, that range here and there, There met he with bold Robin Hood.
4 As soon as bold Robin Hood did him espy, He thought some sport he would make; Therefore out of hand he bid him to stand, And thus to him he spake:
5 Why, what art thou, thou bold fellow, That ranges so boldly here? In sooth, to be brief, thou lookst like a thief, That comes to steal our king’s deer.
6 For I am a keeper in this forrest; The king puts me in trust To look to his deer, that range here and there, Therefore stay thee I must.
7 ‘If thou beest a keeper in this forrest, And hast such a great command, Yet thou must have more partakers in store, Before thou make me to stand.’
8 ‘Nay, I have no more partakers in store, Or any that I do need; But I have a staff of another oke graff, I know it will do the deed.’
9 ‘For thy sword and thy bow I care not a straw, Nor all thine arrows to boot; If I get a knop upon thy bare scop, Thou canst as well shite as shoote.’
10 ‘Speak cleanly, good fellow,’ said jolly Robin, ‘And give better terms to me; Else I’le thee correct for thy neglect, And make thee more mannerly.’
11 ‘Marry gep with a wenion!’ quoth Arthur a Bland, ‘Art thou such a goodly man? I care not a fig for thy looking so big; Mend thou thyself where thou can.’
12 Then Robin Hood he unbuckled his belt, He laid down his bow so long; He took up a staff of another oke graff, That was both stiff and strong.
13 ‘I’le yield to thy weapon,’ said jolly Robin, ‘Since thou wilt not yield to mine; For I have a staff of another oke graff, Not half a foot longer then thine.
14 ‘But let me measure,’ said jolly Robin, ‘Before we begin our fray; For I’le not have mine to be longer then thine, For that will be called foul play.’
15 ‘I pass not for length,’ bold Arthur reply’d, ‘My staff is of oke so free; Eight foot and a half, it will knock down a calf, And I hope it will knock down thee.’
16 Then Robin Hood could no longer forbear; He gave him such a knock, Quickly and soon the blood came down, Before it was ten a clock.
17 Then Arthur he soon recovered himself, And gave him such a knock on the crown, That on every hair of bold Robin Hoods head, The blood came trickling down.
18 Then Robin Hood raged like a wild bore, As soon as he saw his own blood; Then Bland was in hast, he laid on so fast, As though he had been staking of wood.
19 And about, and about, and about they went, Like two wild bores in a chase; Striving to aim each other to maim, Leg, arm, or any other place.
20 And knock for knock they lustily dealt, Which held for two hours and more; That all the wood rang at every bang, They ply’d their work so sore.
21 ‘Hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ said Robin Hood, ‘And let our quarrel fall; For here we may thresh our bones into mesh, And get no coyn at all.
22 ‘And in the forrest of merry Sherwood Hereafter thou shalt be free:’ ‘God-a-mercy for naught, my freedom I bought, I may thank my good staff, and not thee.’
23 ‘What tradesman art thou?’ said jolly Robin, ‘Good fellow, I prethee me show: And also me tell in what place thou dost dwel, For both these fain would I know.’
24 ‘I am a tanner,’ bold Arthur reply’d, ‘In Nottingham long have I wrought; And if thou’lt come there, I vow and do swear I will tan thy hide for naught.’
25 ‘God a mercy, good fellow,’ said jolly Robin, ‘Since thou art so kind to me; And if thou wilt tan my hide for naught, I will do as much for thee.
26 ‘But if thou’lt forsake thy tanners trade, And live in green wood with me, My name’s Robin Hood, I swear by the rood I will give thee both gold and fee.’
27 ‘If thou be Robin Hood,’ bold Arthur reply’d, ‘As I think well thou art, Then here’s my hand, my name’s Arthur a Bland, We two will never depart.
28 ‘But tell me, O tell me, where is Little John? Of him fain would I hear; For we are alide by the mothers side, And he is my kinsman near.’
29 Then Robin Hood blew on the beaugle horn, He blew full lowd and shrill, But quickly anon appeard Little John, Come tripping down a green hill.
30 ‘O what is the matter?’ then said Little John, ‘Master, I pray you tell; Why do you stand with your staff in your hand? I fear all is not well.’
31 ‘O man, I do stand, and he makes me to stand, The tanner that stands thee beside; He is a bonny blade, and master of his trade, For soundly he hath tand my hide.’
32 ‘He is to be commended,’ then said Little John, ‘If such a feat he can do; If he be so stout, we will have a bout, And he shall tan my hide too.’
33 ‘Hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ said Robin Hood, ‘For as I do understand, He’s a yeoman good, and of thine own blood, For his name is Arthur a Bland.’
34 Then Little John threw his staff away, As far as he could it fling, And ran out of hand to Arthur a Bland, And about his neck did cling.
35 With loving respect, there was no neglect, They were neither nice nor coy, Each other did face, with a lovely grace, And both did weep for joy.
36 Then Robin Hood took them both by the hand, And danc’d round about the oke tree; ‘For three merry men, and three merry men, And three merry men we be.
37 ‘And ever hereafter, as long as I live, We three will be all one; The wood shall ring, and the old wife sing, Of Robin Hood, Arthur, and John.’
* * * * *
#a.#
Robin Hood and the Tanner, or, Robin Hood met with his match: A merry and pleasant song relating the gallant and fierce combate fought between Arthur Bland, a Tanner of Nottingham, and Robin Hood, the greatest and most noblest archer of England. The tune is, Robin and the Stranger.
Printed for W. Gilbertson. (1640–63: Chappell.)
3^2. merry Forrest of.
7^2. hath.
7^3. But.
9^3. the bare.
11^1. qd..
13^3. straff.
14^4. Wanting in my copy, probably by accidental omission: supplied from #b#.
17^3. That from every side: Old Ballads, 1713, to restore the middle rhyme.
21^2. let your Quiver: cf. #b#, #c#, #d#.
21^3. thrash: to: cf. #b#.
22^4. good wanting.
26^3. the wood: cf. #d#.
35^2. noice.
36^1. took him by: cf. #d#.
37^4. Kobin.
#b.#
Title as in #a#.By the same printer as #a#. Burden sometimes With hey, etc.
1^1. lives there.
1^2, 11^1, 27^3. Arthur Bland.
3^2. merry Forrest of.
6^2. he puts.
7^2. hath.
7^3. Yet.
7^4. Before that.
8^3, 12^3, 13^3. graft.
9^3. thy bare.
11^1. quoth.
13^1. I yield.
13^4. than.
14^3. to wanting.
14^4. For that will be called foul play.
17^2. He gave.
17^3. Hoods wanting.
21^2. let our quarrel.
21^3. thresh: into.
22^4. my good.
23^2. pray thee.
24^3. thou come.
25^2. kinde and free.
26^3. the wood.
28^1. where’s.
29^2. both for full.
30^1. then wanting.
33^3. thy.
34^4. he did.
36^1. took him by.
36^2. round wanting.
37^1. so long.
#c.#
Title as in #a.# Burden after 2^1, With hey, etc.
1^2, 11^1, 27^3. Arthur Bland.
2^4. not.
3^2. merry Forrest of.
4^3. them to.
7^2. hath.
7^3. Yet you.
7^4. Before that.
8^3, 12^3, 13^3. graft.
9^3. thy bare.
11^1. qd..
13^1. I yield.
14^3. to wanting.
14^4. For that will be called foul play.
16^3. blood ran.
17^2. He gave.
17^3. hair on Robins.
17^4. blood ran.
18^4. been cleaving wood.
20^1. deal.
20^4. so fast.
21^2. let our quarrel.
21^3. thresh: into.
22^4. my good.
24^3. thou come.
25^2. kind and free.
26^1. thou wilt.
26^3. the wood.
28^3. mother.
29^1. he blew.
29^2. both for full.
29^3. and anon.
30^3. your wanting.
31^2. me for thee.
33^1. Hood wanting.
33^3. thy blood.
34^4. he did.
35^4. they both.
36^1. took him by.
36^2. round wanting.
37^1. And we: so long as we.
#d.#
Title as in #a#, except: the greatest archer in London. Printed for J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. (1670–1682?) Burden sometimes, With hey, etc.
1^4. to stand.
3^1. on a.
3^2. forrest of merry.
4^1. Robin he did him.
4^4. he did spake.
5^4. the kings.
6^1. If thou beest a, caught from 7^1.
7^2. hast.
7^3. Then thou.
7^4. makst.
8^2. Nor any: do not.
9^2. thy.
9^3. thou get a knock upon thy.
11^1. gip: wernion qd.
11^4. if thou.
12^2. And threw it upon the ground.
12^3. Says, I have a.
12^4. That is both strong and sound.
13^1. But let me measure, said.
14^3. I’le have mine no longer.
14^4. For that will be counted foul play.
16^1. Hood wanting.
17^1. he wanting.
17^3. from every hair of.
18^1. raved for raged.
18^3. he was.
18^4. stacking.
19^4. other wanting.
20^2. for wanting.
21^2. let our quarrel.
21^3. thrash our bones to.
22^3. I’ve.
22^4. my good.
24^3. thou come.
26^1. thou wilt.
26^2. in the.
26^3. name is: rood.
29^1. on his.
29^2. both for full.
29^4. tripping over the hill.
30^2. you me.
30^3. the staff.
31^3. and a.
32^3. about.
33^3. thy.
35^2. They was.
37^1. we live.
37^2. all as (printed sa).
127
ROBIN HOOD AND THE TINKER
#a.# Wood, 401, leaf 17 b.
#b.# Pepys, II, 107, No 94.
#c.# Douce, III, 118 b.
In the Roxburghe collection, III, 22. Not in the Garland of 1663 or that of 1670.
#a# is printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 38; in Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 264, “compared with” the Roxburghe copy. The ballad was printed by Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 118.
The fewest words will best befit this contemptible imitation of imitations. Robin Hood meets a Tinker, and they exchange scurrilities. The Tinker has a warrant from the king to arrest Robin, but will not show it when asked. Robin Hood suggests that it will be best to go to Nottingham, and there the two take one inn and drink together till the Tinker falls asleep; when Robin makes off, and leaves the Tinker to pay the shot. The host informs the Tinker that it was Robin Hood that he was drinking with, and recommends him to seek his man in the parks. The Tinker finds Robin, and they fall to it, crab-tree staff against sword. Robin yields, and begs a boon; the Tinker will grant none. A blast of the horn brings Little John and Scadlock. Little John would fain see whether the Tinker can do for him what he has done for his master, but Robin proclaims a peace, and offers the Tinker terms which induce him to join the outlaws.
It is not necessary to suppose the warrant to arrest Robin a souvenir of ‘Guy of Gisborne’; though that noble ballad is in a 17th century MS., it does not appear to have been known to the writers of broadsides.
1 In summer time, when leaves grow green, Down a down a down And birds sing on every tree, Hey down a down a down
Robin Hood went to Nottingham, Down a down a down As fast as hee could dree. Hey down a down a down
2 And as hee came to Nottingham A Tinker he did meet, And seeing him a lusty blade, He did him kindly greet.
3 ‘Where dost thou live?’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘I pray thee now mee tell; Sad news I hear there is abroad, I fear all is not well.’
4 ‘What is that news?’ the Tinker said; ‘Tell mee without delay; I am a tinker by my trade, And do live at Banbura.’
5 ‘As for the news,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘It is but as I hear; Two tinkers they were set ith’ stocks, For drinking ale and bear.’
6 ‘If that be all,’ the Tinker said, ‘As I may say to you, Your news it is not worth a fart, Since that they all bee true.
7 ‘For drinking of good ale and bear, You wil not lose your part:’ ‘No, by my faith,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘I love it with all my heart.
8 ‘What news abroad?’ quoth Robin Hood; ‘Tell mee what thou dost hear; Being thou goest from town to town, Some news thou need not fear.’
9 ‘All the news,’ the Tinker said, ‘I hear, it is for good; It is to seek a bold outlaw, Which they call Robin Hood.
10 ‘I have a warrant from the king, To take him where I can; If you can tell me where hee is, I will make you a man.
11 ‘The king will give a hundred pound That hee could but him see; And if wee can but now him get, It will serve you and mee.’
12 ‘Let me see that warrant,’ said Robin Hood; ‘I’le see if it bee right; And I will do the best I can For to take him this night.’
13 ‘That will I not,’ the Tinker said; ‘None with it I will trust; And where hee is if you’l not tell, Take him by force I must.’
14 But Robin Hood perceiving well How then the game would go, ‘If you will go to Nottingham, Wee shall find him I know.’
15 The Tinker had a crab-tree staff, Which was both good and strong; Robin hee had a good strong blade, So they went both along.
16 And when they came to Nottingham, There they both tooke one inn; And they calld for ale and wine, To drink it was no sin.
17 But ale and wine they drank so fast That the Tinker hee forgot What thing he was about to do; It fell so to his lot
18 That while the Tinker fell asleep, Hee made then haste away, And left the Tinker in the lurch, For the great shot to pay.
19 But when the Tinker wakened, And saw that he was gone, He calld then even for his host, And thus hee made his moan.
20 ‘I had a warrant from the king, Which might have done me good, That is to take a bold outlaw, Some call him Robin Hood.
21 ‘But now my warrant and mony’s gone, Nothing I have to pay; And he that promisd to be my friend, He is gone and fled away.’
22 ‘That friend you tell on,’ said the host, ‘They call him Robin Hood; And when that first hee met with you, He ment you little good.’
23 ‘Had I known it had been hee, When that I had him here, Th’ one of us should have tri’d our strength Which should have paid full dear.
24 ‘In the mean time I must away; No longer here I’le bide; But I will go and seek him out, What ever do me betide.
25 ‘But one thing I would gladly know, What here I have to pay;’ ‘Ten shillings just,’ then said the host; ‘I’le pay without delay.
26 ‘Or elce take here my working-bag, And my good hammer too; And if that I light but on the knave, I will then soon pay you.’
27 ‘The onely way,’ then said the host, ‘And not to stand in fear, Is to seek him among the parks, Killing of the kings deer.’
28 The Tinker hee then went with speed, And made then no delay, Till he had found then Robin Hood, That they might have a fray.
29 At last hee spy’d him in a park, Hunting then of the deer; ‘What knave is that,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘That doth come mee so near?’
30 ‘No knave, no knave,’ the Tinker said, ‘And that you soon shall know; Whether of us hath done most wrong, My crab-tree staff shall show.’
31 Then Robin drew his gallant blade, Made then of trusty steel; But the Tinker laid on him so fast That he made Robin reel.
32 Then Robins anger did arise; He fought full manfully, Vntil hee had made the Tinker Almost then fit to fly.
33 With that they had a bout again, They ply’d their weapons fast; The Tinker threshed his bones so sore He made him yeeld at last.
34 ‘A boon, a boon,’ Robin hee cryes, ‘If thou wilt grant it mee;’ ‘Before I do it,’ the Tinker said, ‘I’le hang thee on this tree.’
35 But the Tinker looking him about, Robin his horn did blow; Then came unto him Little John, And William Scadlock too.
36 ‘What is the matter,’ quoth Little John, ‘You sit in th’ highway side?’ ‘Here is a Tinker that stands by, That hath paid well my hide.’
37 ‘That Tinker,’ then said Little John, ‘Fain that blade I would see, And I would try what I could do, If hee’l do as much for mee.’
38 But Robin hee then wishd them both They should the quarrel cease, ‘That henceforth wee may bee as one, And ever live in peace.
39 ‘And for the jovial Tinker’s part, A hundred pound I’le give, In th’ year to maintain him on, As long as he doth live.
40 ‘In manhood hee is a mettle man, And a mettle man by trade; I never thought that any man Should have made me so fraid.
41 ‘And if hee will bee one of us, Wee will take all one fare, And whatsoever wee do get, He shall have his full share.’
42 So the Tinker was content With them to go along, And with them a part to take, And so I end my song.
* * * * *
#a.#
A new song, to drive away cold winter, Between Robin Hood and the Jovial Tinker; How Robin by a wile The Tinker he did cheat, But at the length, as you shall hear, The Tinker did him beat; Whereby the same they then did so agree They after livd in love and unity.
To the tune of In Summer Time.
London, Printed for F. Grove, dwelling on Snowhill. (1620–55.)
1^3. Nottingam.
8^2. here.
10^1. warrand.
#b.#
Title as in #a#: except that he is wanting in the fourth line, and so in the last line but one.
Printed for I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. (1670–86?)
3^1. qd.
4^4. Banburay.
6^3. it wanting.
11^1. king would: an.
14^3. you would.
16^2. they took up their.
22^1. speak for tell.
24^1. was for will.
24^4. me wanting.
25^3. Ten shillings just I have to pay.
26^3. if I: on that.
28^3. then found.
31^3. Tinker he laid on so fast.
32^2. right for full.
33^1. laid about.
33^4. That he.
35^4. Will.
39^2. pounds: I for Ile.
40^1. mettled.
40^4. afraid.
41^1. with us.
#c.#
Robin Hood and the Jolly Tinker: Shewing how they fiercely encountered, and after the victorious conquest lovingly agreed. Tune of In Summer Time.
London, Printed by J. Hodges, at the Looking Glass, on London Bridge. Not in black letter.
3^1. doth.
4^1. the news.
4^4. Bullbury.
5^3. they are.
6^3. it wanting.
8^4. needs.
11^1. would give an.
11^4. thee for you.
15^1. A crab-tree staff the Tinker had.
16^2. they took up at their inn.
18^2. Robin made haste away.
19^1. did awake.
19^3. even wanting.
20^3. to seek.
21^1. the for my.
21^4. He wanting.
22^1. speak for tell.
23^1. I but.
23^3. might for strength.
24^1. I will.
24^4. should betide.
25^1. But wanting.
25^3. just I have to pay.
26^1. bags.
26^3. that wanting.
27^3. amongst.
29^1. in the.
31^2. Made of a.
31^3. he laid: him wanting.
32^3. that he.
32^4. Then almost.
33^1. they laid about.
33^3. full for so.
33^4. That he.
34^2. grant to.
35^4. also for too.
36^3. There.
37^2. would I.
37^3. And would.
38^2. They would.
39^3. In a.
40^1. mettle.
40^4. afraid.
128
ROBIN HOOD NEWLY REVIVED
‘Robin Hood Newly Reviv’d.’ #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 27 b. #b.# Roxburghe, III, 18, in the Ballad Society’s reprint, II, 426. #c.# Garland of 1663, No 3. #d.# Garland of 1670, No 2. #e.# Pepys, II, 101, No 88.
Also Douce, III, 120 b, London, by L. How, and Roxburghe, III, 408: both of these are of the eighteenth century.
#a# is printed, with not a few changes, in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 66. Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 143, agrees nearly with the Aldermary garland.
Robin Hood, walking the forest, meets a gaily-dressed young fellow, who presently brings down a deer at forty yards with his bow. Robin commends the shot, and offers the youngster a place as one of his yeomen. The offer is rudely received; each bends his bow at the other. Robin suggests that one of them may be slain, if they shoot: swords and bucklers would be better. Robin strikes the first blow, and is so stoutly answered that he is fain to know who the young man is. His name is Gamwell, and, having killed his father’s steward, he has fled to the forest to join his uncle, Robin Hood. The kinsmen embrace, and walk on till they meet Little John. Robin Hood tells John that the stranger has beaten him. Little John would like a bout, to see if the stranger can beat him. This Robin forbids, for this stranger is his own sister’s son; he shall be next in rank to Little John among his yeomen, and be called Scarlet.
The story seems to have been built up on a portion of the ruins, so to speak, of the fine tale of Gamelyn. There the king of the outlaws, sitting at meat with his seven score young men, sees Gamelyn wandering in the wood with Adam, and tells some of his young men to fetch them in. Seven start up to execute the order, and when they come to Gamelyn and his comrade bid the twain hand over their bows and arrows. Gamelyn replies, Not though ye fetch five men, and so be twelve; but no violence being attempted, the pair go to the king, who asks them what they seek in the woods. Gamelyn answers, No harm; but to shoot a deer, if we meet one, like hungry men. The king gives them to eat and drink of the best, and, upon learning that the spokesman is Gamelyn, makes him master, under himself, over all the outlaws. Little John having long had the place of first man under Robin, the best that the ballad-maker could do for Gamwell was to make him chief yeoman after John.[109] (The Tale of Gamelyn, ed. Skeat, vv 625–686. The resemblance of the ballad is remarked upon at p. x.)
Ritson gives this ballad the title of Robin Hood and the Stranger, remarking: The title now given to this ballad is that which it seems to have originally borne; having been foolishly altered to Robin Hood newly Revived. R. H. and the Bishop, R. H. and the Beggar, R. H. and the Tanner, are directed to be sung to the tune of Robin Hood and the Stranger, but no ballad bears such a title in any garland or broadside.[110] The ballad referred to as Robin Hood and the Stranger may possibly have been this, but, for reasons given at p. 133, Robin Hood and Little John is, as I think, more likely to be the one meant.
Robin Hood and the Stranger was one name for the most popular of Robin Hood tunes, and this particular tune was sometimes called ‘Robin Hood’ absolutely (see the note at the end of the next ballad). If the ballad denoted by Robin Hood and the Stranger was also sometimes known as ‘Robin Hood’ simply, and especially if this ballad was Robin Hood and Little John, an explanation presents itself of the title ‘Robin Hood newly Revived.’ What is revived is the favorite topic of the process by which Robin Hood enlarged and strengthened his company. The earlier ballad had shown how Little John came to join the band; the second undertakes to tell us how Scarlet was enlisted, the next most important man after John.
The second part, referred to in the last stanza, was separated, Mr Chappell thought, when the present ballad was “newly revived,” because the whole was found too long for a penny (one would say that both parts together were “dear enough a leek”), and seven stanzas (incoherent in themselves and not cohering with what lies before us) added to fill up the sheet. These stanzas will be given under No 130, as Robin Hood and the Scotchman; and the “second part,” ‘R. H. and the Prince of Aragon,’ or ‘R. H., Will. Scadlock and Little John,’ follows immediately.
1 Come listen a while, you gentlemen all, With a hey down down a down down That are in this bower within, For a story of gallant bold Robin Hood I purpose now to begin.
2 ‘What time of the day?’ quoth Robin Hood then; Quoth Little John, ’Tis in the prime; ‘Why then we will to the green wood gang, For we have no vittles to dine.’
3 As Robin Hood walkt the forrest along— It was in the mid of the day— There was he met of a deft young man As ever walkt on the way.
4 His doublet it was of silk, he said, His stockings like scarlet shone, And he walkt on along the way, To Robin Hood then unknown.
5 A herd of deer was in the bend, All feeding before his face: ‘Now the best of ye I’le have to my dinner, And that in a little space.’
6 Now the stranger he made no mickle adoe, But he bends and a right good bow, And the best buck in the herd he slew, Forty good yards him full froe.
7 ‘Well shot, well shot,’ quoth Robin Hood then, ‘That shot it was shot in time; And if thou wilt accept of the place, Thou shalt be a bold yeoman of mine.’
8 ‘Go play the chiven,’ the stranger said, ‘Make haste and quickly go; Or with my fist, be sure of this, I’le give thee buffets store.’
9 ‘Thou hadst not best buffet me,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘For though I seem forlorn, Yet I can have those that will take my part, If I but blow my horn.’
10 ‘Thou wast not best wind thy horn,’ the stranger said, ‘Beest thou never so much in hast, For I can draw out a good broad sword, And quickly cut the blast.’
11 Then Robin Hood bent a very good bow, To shoot, and that he would fain; The stranger he bent a very good bow, To shoot at bold Robin again.
12 ‘O hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘To shoot it would be in vain; For if we should shoot the one at the other, The one of us may be slain.
13 ‘But let’s take our swords and our broad bucklers, And gang under yonder tree:’ ‘As I hope to be sav’d,’ the stranger said, ‘One foot I will not flee.’
14 Then Robin Hood lent the stranger a blow Most scar’d him out of his wit; ‘Thou never felt blow,’ the stranger he said, ‘That shall be better quit.’
15 The stranger he drew out a good broad sword, And hit Robin on the crown, That from every haire of bold Robins head The blood ran trickling down.
16 ‘God a mercy, good fellow!’ quoth Robin Hood then, ‘And for this that thou hast done; Tell me, good fellow, what thou art, Tell me where thou doest woon.’
17 The stranger then answered bold Robin Hood, I’le tell thee where I did dwell; In Maxfield was I bred and born, My name is Young Gamwell.
18 For killing of my own fathers steward, I am forc’d to this English wood, And for to seek an vncle of mine; Some call him Robin Hood.
19 ‘But thou art a cousin of Robin Hoods then? The sooner we should have done:’ ‘As I hope to be sav’d,’ the stranger then said, ‘I am his own sisters son.’
20 But, Lord! what kissing and courting was there, When these two cousins did greet! And they went all that summers day, And Little John did meet.
21 But when they met with Little John, He there unto [him] did say, O master, where have you been, You have tarried so long away?
22 ‘I met with a stranger,’ quoth Robin Hood then, ‘Full sore he hath beaten me:’ ‘Then I’le have a bout with him,’ quoth Little John, ‘And try if he can beat me.’
23 ‘Oh [no], oh no,’ quoth Robin Hood then, ‘Little John, it may [not] be so; For he’s my own dear sisters son, And cousins I have no mo.
24 ‘But he shall be a bold yeoman of mine, My chief man next to thee; And I Robin Hood, and thou Little John, And Scarlet he shall be:
25 ‘And wee’l be three of the bravest outlaws That is in the North Country.’ If you will have any more of bold Robin Hood, In his second part it will be.
* * * * *
#a#, #b#, #e#.
Robin Hood newly reviv’d. To a delightful new tune.
#c#, #d#.
Robin Hood newly revived: Or his meeting and fighting with his cousin Scarlet. To a delightful new tune.
#a.#
Printed for Richard Burton. (1641–74.)
2^1, 7^1, 9^1, 12^1, 16^1, 22^1, 22^3, qd.
6^3. in th.
11^2. To that shoot and.
21^2. him supplied from #c#, #d#.
#b.#
London, Printed for Richard Burton, at the Sign of the Horshooe in West Smithfield.
3^2. midst.
4^1. it wanting.
6^4. full wanting.
11^2. To shot and that.
12^4. must be.
21^2. him wanting.
23^1. Oh no.
23^2. may not.
#c.#
3^3. ware for met.
7^1, 9^1, 12^1, 16^1, 22^1, 22^3, 23^1, qd.
9^3. can I.
10^1. blow for wind.
11^2. To shoot and that.
13^3. he said.
16^1, 18^4. bold Robin.
19^1. art thou.
21^2. unto him.
23^1. Oh no.
23^2. may not.
25^4. In this.
#d.#
2^1, 7^1, 9^1, 12^1, 16^1, 22^1, qd.
3^3. ware for met.
6^4. good wanting.
7^2. was in.
9^2. am for seem.
11^1. he bent.
11^2. To shoot and that.
12^4. must be.
13^3. he said.
16^2. that wanting.
18^1. own wanting.
19^1. art thou.
21^2. unto him.
23^1. Oh no.
23^2. may not.
25^3. If thou wilt.
25^4. In this.
#e.#
Printed for J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. (1670–82?)
1^2. in wanting.
2^1, 7^1, 9^1, 12^1, 16^1, 22^1, 22^3. quod.
3^2. midst.
3^3. with for of.
4^1. it wanting.
6^2. and wanting.
6^4. full wanting.
7^3. except.
9^3. can wanting.
11^2. To that shot and he.
11^3. bent up a noble.
12^1. O wanting.
12^4. must be.
19^1. art thou.
21^2. him wanting.
22^1, 23^1. then wanting.
23^1. Oh no.
23^2. may not.
25^3. If you’l have more.
25^4. In this.
Followed in all the copies by seven stanzas which belong to a different ballad. See No 130.
129
ROBIN HOOD AND THE PRINCE OF ARAGON
‘Robin Hood, Will. Scadlock and Little John.’[111]
#a.# Roxburghe, I, 358, in the Ballad Society’s reprint, II, 431. #b.# Pepys, II, 120, No 106.
Also Roxburghe, III, 582, without a printer’s name.
Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 71, from #a#, with changes; Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 186.
This is only a pseudo-chivalrous romance, tagged to Robin Hood Newly Revived as a Second Part, with eight introductory stanzas. Both parts are as vapid as possible, and no piquancy is communicated by the matter of the two being as alien as oil and water. The Prince of Aragon, a Turk and an infidel, has beleaguered London, and will have the princess to his spouse, unless three champions can vanquish him and his two giants. Robin Hood, Scadlock, and John undertake the case, and disguise themselves as pilgrims, so as not to be stopped on their way. Robin kills the prince, and John and Scadlock each a giant. The king demands to know who his deliverers are, and Robin Hood avails himself of the opportunity to get the king’s pardon for himself and his men. The princess was to be the victor’s prize, but cannot marry all three, as might perhaps have been foreseen. She is allowed to pick, and chooses Will Scadlock. The Earl of Maxfield is present, and weeps bitterly at the sight of Scadlock, because, he says, he had a son like Will, of the name of Young Gamwell. Scadlock, whom we know from the First Part to be Gamwell, falls at his father’s feet, and the wedding follows.
1 Now Robin Hood, Will Scadlock and Little John Are walking over the plain, With a good fat buck which Will Scadlock With his strong bow had slain.
2 ‘Jog on, jog on,’ cries Robin Hood, ‘The day it runs full fast; For though my nephew me a breakfast gave, I have not yet broke my fast.
3 ‘Then to yonder lodge let us take our way, I think it wondrous good, Where my nephew by my bold yeomen Shall be welcomd unto the green wood.’
4 With that he took the bugle-horn, Full well he could it blow; Streight from the woods came marching down One hundred tall fellows and mo.
5 ‘Stand, stand to your arms!’ crys Will Scadlock, ‘Lo! the enemies are within ken:’ With that Robin Hood he laughd aloud, Crys, They are my bold yeomen.
6 Who, when they arriv’d and Robin espy’d, Cry’d, Master, what is your will? We thought you had in danger been, Your horn did sound so shrill.
7 ‘Now nay, now nay,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘The danger is past and gone; I would have you to welcome my nephew here, That hath paid me two for one.’
8 In feasting and sporting they passed the day, Till Phœbus sunk into the deep; Then each one to his quarters hy’d, His guard there for to keep.
9 Long had they not walked within the green wood, But Robin he was espy’d Of a beautiful damsel all alone, That on a black palfrey did ride.
10 Her riding-suit was of sable hew black, Sypress over her face, Through which her rose-like cheeks did blush, All with a comely grace.
11 ‘Come, tell me the cause, thou pritty one,’ Quoth Robin, ‘and tell me aright, From whence thou comest, and whither thou goest, All in this mournful plight?’
12 ‘From London I came,’ the damsel reply’d, ‘From London upon the Thames, Which circled is, O grief to tell! Besieg’d with forraign arms.
13 ‘By the proud Prince of Aragon, Who swears by his martial hand To have the princess for his spouse, Or else to waste this land:
14 ‘Except that champions can be found That dare fight three to three, Against the prince and giants twain, Most horrid for to see:
15 ‘Whose grisly looks, and eyes like brands, Strike terrour where they come, With serpents hissing on their helms, Instead of feathered plume.
16 ‘The princess shall be the victors prize, The king hath vowd and said. And he that shall the conquest win Shall have her to his bride.
17 ‘Now we are four damsels sent abroad, To the east, west, north, and south, To try whose fortune is so good To find these champions forth.
18 ‘But all in vaine we have sought about; Yet none so bold there are That dare adventure life and blood, To free a lady fair.’
19 ‘When is the day?’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘Tell me this and no more:’ ‘On Midsummer next,’ the damsel said, ‘Which is June the twenty-four.’
20 With that the teares trickled down her cheeks, And silent was her tongue; With sighs and sobs she took her leave, Away her palfrey sprung.
21 This news struck Robin to the heart, He fell down on the grass; His actions and his troubled mind Shewd he perplexed was.
22 ‘Where lies your grief?’ quoth Will Scadlock, ‘O master, tell to me; If the damsels eyes have piercd your heart, I’ll fetch her back to thee.’
23 ‘Now nay, now nay,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘She doth not cause my smart; But it is the poor distressed princess That wounds me to the heart.
24 ‘I will go fight the giants all To set the lady free:’ ‘The devil take my soul,’ quoth Little John, ‘If I part with thy company.’
25 ‘Must I stay behind?’ quoth Will Scadlock; ‘No, no, that must not be; I’le make the third man in the fight, So we shall be three to three.’
26 These words cheerd Robin at the heart, Joy shone within his face; Within his arms he huggd them both, And kindly did imbrace.
27 Quoth he, We’ll put on mothly gray, With long staves in our hands, A scrip and bottle by our sides, As come from the Holy Land.
28 So may we pass along the high-way; None will ask from whence we came, But take us pilgrims for to be, Or else some holy men.
29 Now they are on their journey gone, As fast as they may speed, Yet for all haste, ere they arriv’d, The princess forth was led:
30 To be deliverd to the prince, Who in the list did stand, Prepar’d to fight, or else receive His lady by the hand.
31 With that he walkt about the lists, With giants by his side: ‘Bring forth,’ said he, ‘your champions, Or bring me forth my bride.
32 ‘This is the four and twentieth day, The day prefixt upon; Bring forth my bride, or London burns, I swear by Acaron.’
33 Then cries the king, and queen likewise, Both weeping as they speak, Lo! we have brought our daughter dear, Whom we are forcd to forsake.
34 With that stept out bold Robin Hood, Crys, My liege, it must not be so; Such beauty as the fair princess Is not for a tyrants mow.
35 The prince he then began to storm; Crys, Fool, fanatick, baboon! How dares thou stop my valours prize? I’ll kill thee with a frown.
36 ‘Thou tyrant Turk, thou infidel,’ Thus Robin began to reply, ‘Thy frowns I scorn; lo! here’s my gage, And thus I thee defie.
37 ‘And for these two Goliahs there, That stand on either side, Here are two little Davids by, That soon can tame their pride.’
38 Then did the king for armour send, For lances, swords, and shields: And thus all three in armour bright Came marching to the field.
39 The trumpets began to sound a charge, Each singled out his man; Their arms in pieces soon were hewd, Blood sprang from every vain.
40 The prince he reacht Robin a blow— He struck with might and main— Which forcd him to reel about the field, As though he had been slain.
41 ‘God-a-mercy,’ quoth Robin, ‘for that blow! The quarrel shall soon be try’d; This stroke shall shew a full divorce Betwixt thee and thy bride.’
42 So from his shoulders he’s cut his head, Which on the ground did fall, And grumbling sore at Robin Hood, To be so dealt withal.
43 The giants then began to rage, To see their prince lie dead: ‘Thou’s be the next,’ quoth Little John, ‘Unless thou well guard thy head.’
44 With that his faulchion he whirld about— It was both keen and sharp— He clove the giant to the belt, And cut in twain his heart.
45 Will Scadlock well had playd his part, The giant he had brought to his knee; Quoth he, The devil cannot break his fast, Unless he have you all three.
46 So with his faulchion he run him through, A deep and gashly wound; Who damd and foamd, cursd and blasphemd, And then fell to the ground.
47 Now all the lists with cheers were filld, The skies they did resound, Which brought the princess to herself, Who was faln in a swound.
48 The king and queen and princess fair Came walking to the place, And gave the champions many thanks, And did them further grace.
49 ‘Tell me,’ quoth the king, ‘whence you are, That thus disguised came, Whose valour speaks that noble blood Doth run through every vain.’
50 ‘A boon, a boon,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘On my knees I beg and crave:’ ‘By my crown,’ quoth the king, ‘I grant; Ask what, and thou shalt have.’
51 ‘Then pardon I beg for my merry men, Which are within the green wood, For Little John, and Will Scadlock, And for me, bold Robin Hood.’
52 ‘Art thou Robin Hood?’ then quoth the king; ‘For the valour you have shewn, Your pardons I doe freely grant, And welcome every one.
53 ‘The princess I promised the victors prize; She cannot have you all three:’ ‘She shall chuse,’ quoth Robin: saith Little John, Then little share falls to me.
54 Then did the princess view all three, With a comely lovely grace, Who took Will Scadlock by the hand, Quoth, Here I make my choice.
55 With that a noble lord stept forth, Of Maxfield earl was he, Who lookt Will Scadlock in the face, Then wept most bitterly.
56 Quoth he, I had a son like thee, Whom I lovd wondrous well; But he is gone, or rather dead; His name is Young Gamwell.
57 Then did Will Scadlock fall on his knees, Cries, Father! father! here, Here kneels your son, your Young Gamwell You said you lovd so dear.
58 But, lord! what imbracing and kissing was there, When all these friends were met! They are gone to the wedding, and so to bedding, And so I bid you good night.
* * * * *
#a.#
Robin Hood, Will. Scadlock, and Little John, or, A narrative of their victory obtained against the Prince of Aragon and the two Giants: and how Will. Scadlock married the Princess.
Tune of Robin Hood, or, Hey down, down a down.
London, Printed by and for W. O[nley], and are to be sold by the booksellers. (1650–1702.)
1^1. Will., and always, except 55^3.
27^1. moth-ly.
32^2. perfixt.
47^1. sheers.
#b.#
A new ballad of Robin Hood, etc., as in #a#. To the tune of, etc. London: Printed for A. M[ilbourne], W. O[nley], and T. Thackeray in Duck Lane. (1670–89?)
1^3. William.
7^3. I should.
7^4. has.
10^2. Cypress.
11^3. whether.
13^3. to his.
27^1. mothly.
32^1. twenty day.
32^2. prefixt.
32^3. or wanting.
37^1. those.
38^1. the king did.
40^3. him rell.
42^3. grumbled.
46^3. ramb’d for dam’d.
47^1. with sheets.
56^4. it is.
58^3. and so the bedding.
130
ROBIN HOOD AND THE SCOTCHMAN
#A. a.# Wood, 401, leaf 27 b. #b.# Roxburghe, III, 18, in the Ballad Society’s reprint, II, 426. #c.# Garland of 1663, No 3. #d.# Garland of 1670, No 2. #e.# Pepys, II, 101, No 88.
#B.# Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 392, from an Irish garland, printed at Monaghan, 1796.
#A# is simply the conclusion given to Robin Hood Newly Revived in the broadsides, and has neither connection with that ballad nor coherence in itself, being on the face of it the beginning and the end of an independent ballad, with the break after the third stanza. 3 may possibly refer to the Scots giving up Charles I to the parliamentary commissioners, in 1647. In #B#, four stanzas appear to have been added to the first three of #A# in order to make out a story,—the too familiar one of Robin being beaten in a fight with a fellow whom he chances to meet, and consequently enlisting the man as a recruit.
A
#a.# Wood, 401, leaf 27 b. #b.# Roxburghe, III, 18, in the Ballad Society’s reprint, II, 426. #c.# Garland of 1663, No 3. #d.# Garland of 1670, No 2. #e.# Pepys, II, 101, No 88.
1 Then bold Robin Hood to the north he would go, With a hey down down a down down With valour and mickle might, With sword by his side, which oft had been tri’d, To fight and recover his right.
2 The first that he met was a bony bold Scot, His servant he said he would be; ‘No,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘it cannot be good, For thou wilt prove false unto me.
3 ‘Thou hast not bin true to sire nor cuz:’ ‘Nay, marry,’ the Scot he said, ‘As true as your heart, I’le never part, Gude master, be not afraid.’
* * * * *
4 Then Robin Hood turnd his face to the east; ‘Fight on my merry men stout, Our cause is good,’ quoth brave Robin Hood, ‘And we shall not be beaten out.’
5 The battel grows hot on every side, The Scotchman made great moan; Quoth Jockey, Gude faith, they fight on each side; Would I were with my wife Ione!
6 The enemy compast brave Robin about, ’Tis long ere the battel ends; Ther’s neither will yeeld nor give up the field, For both are supplied with friends.
* * * * *
7 This song it was made in Robin Hoods dayes; Let’s pray unto Iove above To give us true peace, that mischief may cease, And war may give place unto love.
B
Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 392, from an Irish garland, printed at Monaghan, 1796.
1 Now bold Robin Hood to the north would go, With valour and mickle might, With sword by his side, which oft had been try’d, To fight and recover his right.
2 The first that he met was a jolly stout Scot, His servant he said he would be; ‘No,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘it cannot be good, For thou wilt prove false unto me.
3 ‘Thou hast not been true to sire or cuz;’ ‘Nay, marry,’ the Scot he said, ‘As true as your heart, I never will part; Good master, be not afraid.’
4 ‘But eer I employ you,’ said bold Robin Hood, ‘With you I must have a bout;’ The Scotchman reply’d, Let the battle be try’d, For I know I will beat you out.
5 Thus saying, the contest did quickly begin, Which lasted two hours and more; The blows Sawney gave bold Robin so brave The battle soon made him give oer.
6 ‘Have mercy, thou Scotchman,’ bold Robin Hood cry’d, ‘Full dearly this boon have I bought; We will both agree, and my man you shall be, For a stouter I never have fought.’
7 Then Sawny consented with Robin to go, To be of his bowmen so gay; Thus ended the fight, and with mickle delight To Sherwood they hasted away.
* * * * *
#A.#
For the printer, etc., see No 128, Robin Hood newly Revived.
#a.#
1^3. trid.
1^4. rigth.
4^3, 5^3. qd.
#b.#
1^3. tri’d.
3^1. or for nor.
4^3. case.
#c.#
4^3, 5^3. qd.
#d.#
4^3. case.
#e.#
2^1. met with was a bold.
2^3. qd.
4^3. case: quod.
131
ROBIN HOOD AND THE RANGER
‘Robin Hood and the Ranger.’ #a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, C. Dicey, in Bow Church-Yard, n. d., but before 1741, p. 78. #b.# R. H.’s Garland, London, W. & C. Dicey, n. d. #c.# R. H.’s Garland, London, L. How, in Peticoat Lane, n. d. #d.# The English Archer, etc., York, N. Nickson, in Feasegate, n. d. #e.# The English Archer, etc., Paisley, John Neilson, 1786. #f.# R. H.’s Garland, York, T. Wilson & R. Spence, n. d. (All in the Bodleian Library.)
In Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 133, from a York edition of Robin Hood’s Garland. Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 200, apparently from an Aldermary garland.
Mr Halliwell, in Notices of Fugitive Tracts, etc., Percy Society, vol. xxix. p. 19, refers to an edition of Robin Hood’s Garland printed for James Hodges, at the Looking-glass, London-bridge, n. d., as containing “the earliest copy yet known” of Robin Hood and the Ranger, but does not indicate how the alleged fact was ascertained. Inside of the cover of #a# is written, William Stukely, 1741. #b# appears in advertisements as early as 1753.
Robin Hood, while about to kill deer, is forbidden by a forester, and claiming the forest as his own, the cause has to be tried with weapons. They break their swords on one another, and take to quarter-staves. Robin Hood is so sorely cudgelled that he gives up the fight, declaring that he has never met with so good a man. He summons his yeomen with his horn; the forester is induced to join them.
1 When Phœbus had melted the sickles of ice, With a hey down, &c. And likewise the mountains of snow, Bold Robin Hood he would ramble to see, To frolick abroad with his bow.
2 He left all his merry men waiting behind, Whilst through the green vallies he passd; There did he behold a forester bold, Who cry’d out, Friend, whither so fast?
3 ‘I’m going,’ quoth Robin, ‘to kill a fat buck, For me and my merry men all; Besides, eer I go, I’ll have a fat doe, Or else it shall cost me a fall.’
4 ‘You’d best have a care,’ said the forester then, ‘For these are his majesty’s deer; Before you shall shoot, the thing I’ll dispute, For I am head-forester here.’
5 ‘These thirteen long summers,’ quoth Robin, ‘I’m sure, My arrows I here have let fly, Where freely I range; methinks it is strange, You should have more power than I.
6 ‘This forest,’ quoth Robin, ‘I think is my own, And so are the nimble deer too; Therefore I declare, and solemnly swear, I wont be affronted by you.’
7 The forester he had a long quarter-staff, Likewise a broad sword by his side; Without more ado, he presently drew, Declaring the truth should be try’d.
8 Bold Robin Hood had a sword of the best, Thus, eer he would take any wrong, His courage was flush, he’d venture a brush, And thus they fell to it ding dong.
9 The very first blow that the forester gave, He made his broad weapon cry twang; ’Twas over the head, he fell down for dead, O that was a damnable bang!
10 But Robin he soon did recover himself, And bravely fell to it again; The very next stroke their weapons were broke, Yet never a man there was slain.
11 At quarter-staff then they resolved to play, Because they would have t’other bout; And brave Robin Hood right valiantly stood, Unwilling he was to give out.
12 Bold Robin he gave him very hard blows, The other returnd them as fast; At every stroke their jackets did smoke, Three hours the combat did last.
13 At length in a rage the bold forester grew, And cudgeld bold Robin so sore That he could not stand, so shaking his hand, He said, Let us freely give oer.
14 Thou art a brave fellow, I needs must confess I never knew any so good; Thou’rt fitting to be a yeoman for me, And range in the merry green wood.
15 I’ll give thee this ring as a token of love, For bravely thou’st acted thy part; That man that can fight, in him I delight, And love him with all my whole heart.
16 Then Robin Hood setting his horn to his mouth, A blast he merrily blows; His yeomen did hear, and strait did appear, A hundred, with trusty long bows.
17 Now Little John came at the head of them all, Cloathd in a rich mantle of green; And likewise the rest were gloriously drest, A delicate sight to be seen.
18 ‘Lo, these are my yeomen,’ said Robin Hood, ‘And thou shalt be one of the train; A mantle and bow, a quiver also, I give them whom I entertain.’
19 The forester willingly enterd the list, They were such a beautiful sight; Then with a long bow they shot a fat doe, And made a rich supper that night.
20 What singing and dancing was in the green wood, For joy of another new mate! With mirth and delight they spent the long night, And liv’d at a plentiful rate.
21 The forester neer was so merry before As then he was with these brave souls, Who never would fail, in wine, beer or ale, To take off their cherishing bowls.
22 Then Robin Hood gave him a mantle of green, Broad arrows, and a curious long bow; This done, the next day, so gallant and gay, He marched them all on a row.
23 Quoth he, My brave yeomen, be true to your trust, And then we may range the woods wide: They all did declare, and solemnly swear, They’d conquer, or die by his side.
* * * * *
#a.#
Robin Hood and the Ranger, or True Friendship after a fierce Fight. Tune of Arthur a Bland.
2^4. whether.
8^3. he’ll.
12^1. a very hard blow.
#b.#
2^4. whither.
6^2. are all.
11^2. the other.
12^1. very hard blows.
14^2. any one.
15^2. thou hast.
18^2. And wanting.
23^4. They would.
#c.#
Burden: With a hey down down down and a down.
2^4. whither.
5^3. methink’.
6^2. deers.
8^3. he’d.
10^1. soon recoverd.
10^2. to wanting.
10^3. they broke.
12^1. very hard blows.
12^4. this combat.
13^4. He cry’d.
14^4. And live.
16^2. blast then.
19^2. a wanting.
21^2. with the.
#d.#
Tune of, etc. wanting. Burden wanting.
1^1. the circles.
1^3. he wanting: ramble away.
2^4. whither.
5^2. arrows here I’ve.
5^4. then I.
6^2. so is.
7^1. he wanting.
8^1. he had.
8^3. he’d.
9^1. that wanting.
9^3. his head.
10^1. soon recoverd.
10^3. they broke.
12^1. he wanting: many hard blows.
13^4. He cry’d.
16^1. Then wanting: Hood set his bugle horn.
16^2. blast then.
16^3. and soon.
16^4. An.
17^3. rest was.
18^1. said bold.
18^4. I’ll.
20^3. the whole.
21^2. with the.
21^3. beer and.
21^4. take of the.
22^2. a wanting.
23^4. They would.
#e.#
Burden: With a hey down down derry down: or Hey down derry derry down.
1^1. circle.
1^3. he wanting: ramble away.
2^3. he did.
2^4. whither.
3^1. quoth Robin wanting.
3^3. ere.
5^2. here wanting.
6^2. so is.
7^1. he wanting.
8^2. neer.
8^3. he’d.
8^4. thus wanting.
9^3. his head.
10^1. soon recovered.
10^3. they broke.
11^1. then wanting.
12^1. many hard blows.
13^4. He cry’d.
15^4. whole wanting.
16^1. set his brave.
16^2. blast then.
16^3. and soon.
16^4. An.
18^1. said bold.
18^3. and a bow.
18^4. I’ll.
20^1. were in.
20^3. the whole.
21^2. with the.
22^2. a wanting.
#f.#
1^1. ickles of ice.
1^3. would frolicksome be.
1^4. And ramble about with his bow.
2^4. whither.
8^1. Hood wanting.
8^3. he’d.
10^1. recovered.
10^3. they broke.
10^4. Yet neither of them were slain.
11^2. the other.
12^1. very hard blows.
12^4. this combat.
13^4. He cry’d.
14^1. And live.
18^1. said bold.
19^4. a good.
21^2. As when.
21^3. beer and.
132
THE BOLD PEDLAR AND ROBIN HOOD
J. H. Dixon, Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 71, Percy Society, vol. xvii, 1846.
“An aged female in Bermondsey, Surrey, from whose oral recitation the editor took down the present version, informed him, that she had often heard her grandmother sing it, and that it was never in print; but he has of late met with several common stall copies.”
Robin Hood and Little John fall in with a pedlar. Little John asks what goods he carries, and says he will have half his pack. The pedlar says he shall have the whole if he can make him give a perch of ground. They fight, and John cries Hold. Robin Hood undertakes the pedlar, and in turn cries Hold. Robin asks the pedlar’s name. He will not give it till they have told theirs, and when they have so done says it still lies with him to tell or not. However, he is Gamble Gold, forced to flee his country for killing a man. If you are Gamble Gold, says Robin, you are my own cousin. They go to a tavern and dine and drink.
Stanzas 11, 12, 15 recall Robin Hood’s Delight, No 136, 19, 20, 24; 13, 14 Robin Hood Revived, No 128, 17, 18. As remarked under No 128, this is a traditional variation of Robin Hood Revived.
1 There chanced to be a pedlar bold, A pedlar bold he chanced to be; He rolled his pack all on his back, And he came tripping oer the lee. Down a down a down a down, Down a down a down
2 By chance he met two troublesome blades, Two troublesome blades they chanced to be; The one of them was bold Robin Hood, And the other was Little John so free.
3 ‘O pedlar, pedlar, what is in thy pack? Come speedilie and tell to me:’ ‘I’ve several suits of the gay green silks, And silken bow-strings two or three.’
4 ‘If you have several suits of the gay green silk, And silken bow-strings two or three, Then it’s by my body,’ cries Little John, ‘One half your pack shall belong to me.’
5 ‘O nay, o nay,’ says the pedlar bold, ‘O nay, o nay, that never can be; For there’s never a man from fair Nottingham Can take one half my pack from me.’
6 Then the pedlar he pulled off his pack, And put it a little below his knee, Saying, If you do move me one perch from this, My pack and all shall gang with thee.
7 Then Little John he drew his sword, The pedlar by his pack did stand; They fought until they both did sweat, Till he cried, Pedlar, pray hold your hand!
8 Then Robin Hood he was standing by, And he did laugh most heartilie; Saying, I could find a man, of a smaller scale, Could thrash the pedlar and also thee.
9 ‘Go you try, master,’ says Little John, ‘Go you try, master, most speedilie, Or by my body,’ says Little John, ‘I am sure this night you will not know me.’
10 Then Robin Hood he drew his sword, And the pedlar by his pack did stand; They fought till the blood in streams did flow, Till he cried, Pedlar, pray hold your hand!
11 Pedlar, pedlar, what is thy name? Come speedilie and tell to me: ‘My name! my name I neer will tell, Till both your names you have told to me.’
12 ‘The one of us is bold Robin Hood, And the other Little John so free:’ ‘Now,’ says the pedlar, ‘it lays to my good will, Whether my name I chuse to tell to thee.
13 ‘I am Gamble Gold of the gay green woods, And travelled far beyond the sea; For killing a man in my father’s land From my country I was forced to flee.’
14 ‘If you are Gamble Gold of the gay green woods, And travelled far beyond the sea, You are my mother’s own sister’s son; What nearer cousins then can we be?’
15 They sheathed their swords with friendly words, So merrilie they did agree; They went to a tavern, and there they dined, And bottles cracked most merrilie.
* * * * *
3^1, 5^1, 5^2. Oh.
133
ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, I
#a.# Wood, 401, leaf 23 b.
#b.# Garland of 1663, No 8.
#c.# Garland of 1670, No 7.
#d.# Pepys, II, 116, No 100.
#a# is printed, with changes, by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 122. Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 180, agrees with the Aldermary garland.
There is a copy in the Roxburghe Collection, III, 20.
Robin Hood, riding towards Nottingham, comes upon a beggar, who asks charity. Robin says he has no money, but must have a bout with him. The beggar with his staff gives three blows for every stroke of Robin’s with his sword. Robin cries truce, and at the suggestion, we might almost say upon the requisition, of the beggar, exchanges his horse and finery for the beggar’s bags and rags. Thus equipped, he proceeds to Nottingham, and has the adventure with the sheriff and three yeomen which is the subject of No 140.
The copy in the Wood and in the Roxburghe collections is signed T. R., like Robin Hood and the Butcher, #B#, and, like the latter ballad, this is a rifacimento, with middle rhyme in the third line. It is perhaps made up from two distinct stories; the Second Part, beginning at stanza 20, from Robin Hood rescuing Three Squires, and what precedes from a ballad resembling Robin Hood and the Beggar, II.
But no seventeenth-century version of Robin Hood and the Beggar, II, is known, and it is more likely that we owe the fight between Robin Hood and the Beggar to the folly and bad taste of T. R. Robin has no sort of provocation to fight with the beggar, and no motive for changing clothes, the proposition actually coming from the beggar, st. 15, and it is an accident that his disguise proves useful (cf. Guy of Gisborne). The beggar should have reported that three men were to be hanged, but instead of this is forced into a fight, in order that one more ignominious defeat may be scored against Robin.
The verses,
9^{3,4}, I am an outlaw, as many do know, My name it is Robin Hood,
occur also in Robin Hood and the Bishop, No 143, 6^{3,4}. ‘And this mantle of mine I’le to thee resign,’ 16^3, looks very like a reminiscence of Robin Hood and the Bishop, 10^3, ‘Thy spindle and twine unto me resign.’[112]
1 Come light and listen, you gentlemen all, Hey down, down, and a down That mirth do love for to hear, And a story true I’le tell unto you, If that you will but draw near.
2 In elder times, when merriment was, And archery was holden good, There was an outlaw, as many did know, Which men called Robin Hood.
3 Vpon a time it chanced so Bold Robin was merry disposed, His time to spend he did intend, Either with friends or foes.
4 Then he got vp on a gallant brave steed, The which was worth angels ten; With a mantle of green, most brave to be seen, He left all his merry men.
5 And riding towards fair Nottingham, Some pastime for to spy, There was he aware of a jolly beggar As ere he beheld with his eye.
6 An old patcht coat the beggar had on, Which he daily did vse for to wear; And many a bag about him did wag, Which made Robin Hood to him repair.
7 ‘God speed, God speed,’ said Robin Hood, ‘What countryman? tell to me:’ ‘I am Yorkeshire, sir; but, ere you go far, Some charity give vnto me.’
8 ‘Why, what wouldst thou have?’ said Robin Hood, ‘I pray thee tell vnto me:’ ‘No lands nor livings,’ the beggar he said, ‘But a penny for charitie.’
9 ‘I have no money,’ said Robin Hood then, ‘But, a ranger within the wood, I am an outlaw, as many do know, My name it is Robin Hood.
10 ‘But yet I must tell thee, bonny beggar, That a bout with [thee] I must try; Thy coat of gray, lay down I say, And my mantle of green shall lye by.’
11 ‘Content, content,’ the beggar he cry’d, ‘Thy part it will be the worse; For I hope this bout to give thee the rout, And then have at thy purse.’
12 The beggar he had a mickle long staffe, And Robin had a nut-brown sword; So the beggar drew nigh, and at Robin let fly, But gave him never a word.
13 ‘Fight on, fight on,’ said Robin Hood then, ‘This game well pleaseth me;’ For every blow that Robin did give, The beggar gave buffets three.
14 And fighting there full hard and sore, Not far from Nottingham town, They never fled, till from Robinś head The blood came trickling down.
15 ‘O hold thy hand,’ said Robin Hood then, ‘And thou and I will agree;’ ‘If that be true,’ the beggar he said, ‘Thy mantle come give vnto me.’
16 ‘Nay a change, a change,’ cri’d Robin Hood; ‘Thy bags and coat give me, And this mantle of mine I’le to thee resign, My horse and my braverie.’
17 When Robin Hood had got the beggars clothes, He looked round about; ‘Methinks,’ said he, ‘I seem to be A beggar brave and stout.
18 ‘For now I have a bag for my bread, So have I another for corn; I have one for salt, and another for malt, And one for my little horn.
19 ‘And now I will a begging goe, Some charitie for to find:’ And if any more of Robin you’l know, In this second part it’s behind.
20 Now Robin he is to Nottingham bound, With his bags hanging down to his knee, His staff, and his coat, scarce worth a groat, Yet merrilie passed he.
21 As Robin he passed the streets along, He heard a pittifull cry; Three brethren deer, as he did hear, Condemned were to dye.
22 Then Robin he highed to the sheriffs [house], Some reliefe for to seek; He skipt, and leapt, and capored full high, As he went along the street.
23 But when to the sheriffs doore he came, There a gentleman fine and brave, ‘Thou beggar,’ said he, ‘come tell vnto me What is it that thou wouldest have?’
24 ‘No meat, nor drink,’ said Robin Hood then, ‘That I come here to crave; But to beg the lives of yeomen three, And that I fain would have.’
25 ‘That cannot be, thou bold beggar, Their fact it is so cleer; I tell to thee, hangd they must be, For stealing of our kings deer.’
26 But when to the gallows they did come, There was many a weeping eye: ‘O hold your peace,’ said Robin then, ‘For certainly they shall not dye.’
27 Then Robin he set his horn to his mouth, And he blew but blastes three, Till a hundred bold archers brave Came kneeling down to his knee.
28 ‘What is your will, master?’ they said, ‘We are here at your command:’ ‘Shoot east, shoot west,’ said Robin Hood then, ‘And look that you spare no man.’
29 Then they shot east, and they shot west; Their arrows were so keen The sheriffe he, and his companie, No longer must be seen.
30 Then he stept to these brethren three, And away he had them tane; But the sheriff was crost, and many a man lost, That dead lay on the plain.
31 And away they went into the merry green wood, And sung with a merry glee, And Robin took these brethren good To be of his yeomandrie.
* * * * *
#a.#
Robin Hood and the Beggar: Shewing how Robin Hood and the Beggar fought, and how he changed clothes with the Beggar, and how he went a begging to Nottingham, and how he saved three brethren from being hangd for stealing of deer. To the tune of Robin Hood and the Stranger. Signed T. R.
London, Printed for Francis Grove, on Snowhill. (1620–55.)
Burden: an a.
1^1. light in all: a corruption of lyth.
2^2. archrey.
3^4. friend or foe: cf. #b#, #c#.
4^2. angell.
6^1. had one.
10^1. tell the.
12^1. saffe.
21^3. brethred.
27^4. dow.
31^4. yeomandriee.
#b#, #c#.
Title as in #a#. Not signed. Burden sometimes, With hey, etc., or, With a hey, etc.; once, in #c#, Hey derry derry down.
#b.#
3^4. friends or foes.
4^2. angels.
7^1. Hood then.
7^2. unto.
8^3. he wanting.
9^3. doth know.
10^2. with thee.
10^4. lay.
16^1. said for cri’d.
20^1. he wanting.
21^4. was for to.
22^1. sheriffs house.
27^2. he wanting.
30^2. them had.
#c.#
3^4. friends or foes.
4^2. angels.
7^1. Hood then.
7^2. unto.
8^3. living.
10^2. with thee.
19^4. known for behind.
21^4. for to.
22^1. sheriffs house.
25^3. they hanged.
27^2. he wanting.
30^2. them had.
#d.#
Title as in #a#: except of the king’s deer. Not signed.
Printed for I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger. (1670–86.)
Burden: With a hey down down and a down.
3^2. merrily.
3^4. friend or foe.
4^2. angels.
5^1. brave for fair.
7^1. Hood then.
7^2. unto.
10^2. with thee.
11^1. he said.
12^1. muckle.
12^4. But he.
13^3. Robin gave.
14^3. Robin Hood’s head.
15^3. If it.
17^1. Hood wanting.
17^3. Methink.
18^3. for mault: for salt.
19^4. In the. house wanting, as in #a#.
22^3. and he leapt.
23^4. is’t: would’st.
25^4. of the.
26^3. O wanting: Robin Hood.
27^4. down on their.
28^2. here wanting.
29^1. east then.
30^2. has.
30^3. many men.
31^1. And wanting.
31^3. Then Robin Hood.
134
ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, II
#a.# ‘The History of Robin Hood and the Beggar,’ Aberdeen, Printed by and for A. Keith: Bodleian Library, Douce, HH 88, pasted between pp 68, 69 of Robin Hood’s Garland, London, C. Dicey. A. Keith of Aberdeen printed from 1810 to 1835.
#b.# ‘A pretty dialogue betwixt Robin Hood and a Beggar,’ Newcastle, in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, I, 97.
#a# is printed by Gutch, Robin Hood, II, 230, with deviations. Of #b# Ritson says: The corruptions of the press being equally numerous and minute, some of the most trifling have been corrected without notice. Despite the corruptions, #b# is, in some readings, preferable to #a#. Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. xliii, says that pretty early stall copies were printed both at Aberdeen and Glasgow.
Robin Hood attempts to stop a beggar, from whom he thinks he may get some money. The beggar gives no heed to his summons, but hies on. Robin, getting a surly answer upon a second essay, says that if there be but a farthing he will have it, orders the beggar to loose the strings of his pocks, and threatens him with an arrow. The beggar defies him, and upon Robin’s drawing his bow, reaches him such a stroke with a staff that bow and arrow are broken to bits. Robin takes to his sword; the beggar lights on his hand with his staff and disables him completely, then follows in with lusty blows, till Robin falls in a swoon. The beggar moves on with entire unconcern. Three of Robin’s men come by and revive him with water. Their master tells them of his disgrace; he had never been in so hard a place in forty year. He bids them bring the beggar back or slay him. Two of the three will be enough for that, they say, and one shall stay with him. Two set forth, accordingly, with a caution to be wary, take a short cut, which brings them out ahead of the beggar, and leap on him from a hiding, one gripping his staff and the other putting a dagger to his breast. The beggar sues for his life in vain; they will bind him and will take him back to their master, to be slain or hanged. He offers them a hundred pound and more for his liberty. They decide together to take the money, and say nothing about it, simply reporting that they have killed the old carl. The beggar spreads his cloak on the ground and many a pock on it; then, standing between them and the wind, takes a great bag of meal from his neck and flings the meal into their eyes. Having thus blinded them, he seizes his staff, which they had stuck in the ground, and gives each of them a dozen. The young men take to their heels, the beggar calling after them to stop for their pay. Robin, after a jest at the meal on their cloaths, makes them tell how they have fared. We are shamed forever, he cries; but smiles to see that they have had their taste of the beggar’s tree.
This tale is rightly called by Ritson a North Country composition of some antiquity, “perhaps Scottish.” Fragments of Robin Hood ballads, Motherwell informs us, were traditionally extant in his day which had not (and have not) found their way into printed collections, and we know from very early testimony that such ballads were current in Scotland. This is by far the best of the Robin Hood ballads of the secondary, so to speak cyclic, period. It has plenty of homely humor, but the heroic sentiment is gone. It does not belong to the iron, the cast-iron, age of Robin Hood’s Birth, Breeding, etc.; but neither does it belong to the golden age of Robin Hood and the Monk, or the Gest. It would be no gain to have Thersites drubbing Odysseus. Robin finds his match, for the nonce, in the Potter, but he does not for that depute two of his men to be the death of the Potter. It never occurred to Little John and Much to get a hundred pound from a beggar, kill him, and pocket the money.
A story resembling that of the second part of this ballad occurs, as Ritson has observed, in Le moyen de parvenir, “1739, I, 304;” II, 94, London, 1786; p. 171, Paris, 1841. A friar encounters two footpads, who offer to relieve him of the burden of his frock. He asks them to let him take it off peaceably, puts his staff under his foot, takes off the frock and throws it before them. While one of the pair stoops to get it, the friar picks up the staff and hits the knave a blow which sends him headlong; the other runs off.
Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 180.
1 Lyth and listen, gentlemen, That’s come of high born blood; I’ll tell you of a brave booting That befel Robin Hood.
2 Robin Hood upon a day, He went forth him alone, And as he came from Barnesdale Into a fair evening,
3 He met a beggar on the way, That sturdily could gang; He had a pike-staff in his hand, That was baith stark and strang.
4 A clouted cloak about him was, That held him from the cold; The thinnest bit of it, I guess, Was more than twenty fold.
5 His meal-pock hang about his neck, Into a leathern fang, Well fastened with a broad buckle, That was both stark and strang.
6 He had three hats upon his head, Together sticked fast; He cared neither for wind nor weet, In lands wherever he past.
7 Good Robin coost him in his way, To see what he might be; If any beggar had money, He thought some part had he.
8 ‘Tarry, tarry,’ good Robin says, ‘Tarry, and speak with me;’ He heard him as he heard [him] not, And fast his way can hie.
9 ‘It be’s not so,’ says good Robin, ‘Nay, thou must tarry still;’ ‘By my troth,’ says the bold beggar, ‘Of that I have no will.
10 ‘It is far to my lodging-house, And it is growing late; If they have supt ere I come in, I will look wondrous blate.’
11 ‘Now, by my troth,’ says good Robin, ‘I see well by thy fare, If thou chear well to thy supper, Of mine thou takes no care;
12 ‘Who wants my dinner all the day, And wots not where to lie, And should I to the tavern go, I want money to buy.
13 ‘Sir, thou must lend me some money, Till we two meet again:’ The beggar answerd cankerdly, I have no money to lend.
14 Thou art as young a man as I, And seems to be as sweer; If thou fast till thou get from me, Thou shalt eat none this year.
15 ‘Now, by my troth,’ says good Robin, ‘Since we are sembled so, If thou have but a small farthing, I’ll have it ere thou go.
16 ‘Therefore, lay down thy clouted cloak, And do no longer stand, And loose the strings of all thy pocks; I’ll ripe them with my hand.
17 ‘And now to thee I make a vow, If thou make any din, I shall see if a broad arrow Can pierce a beggar’s skin.’
18 The beggar smil’d, and answer made: Far better let me be; Think not that I will be afraid For thy nip crooked tree.
19 Or that I fear thee any whit For thy curn nips of sticks; I know no use for them so meet As to be pudding-pricks.
20 Here I defy thee to do me ill, For all thy boistrous fare; Thou’s get nothing from me but ill, Would thou seek it evermair.
21 Good Robin bent his noble bow— He was an angry man— And in it set a broad arrow; Yet er ’twas drawn a span,
22 The beggar, with his noble tree, Reacht him so round a rout That his bow and his broad arrow In flinders flew about.
23 Good Robin bound him to his brand, But that provd likewise vain; The beggar lighted on his hand With his pike-staff again.
24 I wot he might not draw a sword For forty days and more; Good Robin could not speak a word, His heart was never so sore.
25 He could not fight, he could not flee, He wist not what to do; The beggar, with his noble tree, Laid lusty flaps him to.
26 He paid good Robin back and side, And beft him up and down, And with his pike-staff still on laid Till he fell in a swoon.
27 ‘Fy! stand up, man,’ the beggar said, ‘’Tis shame to go to rest; Stay still till thou get thy mony [told], I think it were the best.
28 ‘And syne go to the tavern-house, And buy both wine and ale; Hereat thy friends will crack full crouse, Thou has been at a dale.’
29 Good Robin answerd never a word, But lay still as a stane; His cheeks were white as any clay, And closed were his eyne.
30 The beggar thought him dead but fail, And boldly bownd away; I would you had been at the dale, And gotten part of the play.
31 Now three of Robin’s men, by chance, Came walking on the way, And found their master in a trance, On ground where he did lie.
32 Up have they taken good Robin, Making a piteous bier, Yet saw they no man there at whom They might the matter spear.
33 They looked him all round about, But wounds on him saw none, Yet at his mouth came bocking out The blood of a good vein.
34 Cold water they have taken syne, And cast into his face; Then he began to lift his eyne, And spake within short space.
35 ‘Tell us, dear master,’ says his men, ‘How with you stands the case?’ Good Robin sighd ere he began To tell of his disgrace.
36 ‘I have been watchman in this wood Near hand this forty year, Yet I was never so hard bestead As you have found me here.
37 ‘A beggar with a clouted cloak, In whom I feard no ill, Hath with a pike-staff clawd my back; I fear’t shall never be well.
38 ‘See, where he goes out oer yon hill, With hat upon his head; If ever you lovd your master well, Go now revenge this deed.
39 ‘And bring him back again to me, If it lie in your might, That I may see, before I die, Him punisht in my sight.
40 ‘And if you may not bring him back, Let him not go loose on; For to us all it were great shame If he escapt again.’
41 ‘One of us shall with you remain, Because you’re ill at ease; The other two shall bring him back, To use him as you please.’
42 ‘Now, by my troth,’ says good Robin, ‘I trow there’s enough said; If he get scouth to weild his tree, I fear you’ll both be paid.’
43 ‘Be ye not feard, our good master, That we two can be dung With any blutter base beggar, That hath nought but a rung.
44 ‘His staff shall stand him in no stead; That you shall shortly see; But back again he shall be led, And fast bound shall he be, To see if you will have him slain, Or hanged on a tree.’
45 ‘But cast you slily in his way, Before he be aware, And on his pike-staff first lay hands; You’ll speed the better far.’
46 Now leave we Robin with his man, Again to play the child, And learn himself to stand and gang By haulds, for all his eild.
47 Now pass we to the bold beggar, That raked oer the hill, Who never mended his pace no more Nor he had done no ill.
48 The young men knew the country well, So soon where he would be, And they have taken another way, Was nearer by miles three.
49 They rudely ran with all their might, Spar’d neither dub nor mire, They stirred neither at laigh nor hight, No travel made them tire,
50 Till they before the beggar wan, And coost them in his way; A little wood lay in a glen, And there they both did stay.
51 They stood up closely by a tree, In ilk side of the gate, Until the beggar came them to, That thought not of such fate.
52 And as he was betwixt them past, They leapt upon him baith; The one his pike-staff gripped fast, They feared for its scaith.
53 The other he held in his sight A drawn dirk to his breast, And said, False carl, quit thy staff, Or I shall be thy priest.
54 His pike-staff they have taken him frae, And stuck it in the green; He was full leath to let [it] gae, If better might have been.
55 The beggar was the feardest man Of one that ever might be; To win away no way he can, Nor help him with his tree.
56 He wist not wherefore he was tane, Nor how many was there; He thought his life-days had been gone, And grew into despair.
57 ‘Grant me my life,’ the beggar said, ‘For him that died on tree, And take away that ugly knife, Or then for fear I’ll die.
58 ‘I grievd you never in all my life, By late nor yet by ayre; Ye have great sin, if ye should slay A silly poor beggar.’
59 ‘Thou lies, false lown,’ they said again, ‘By all that may be sworn; Thou hast near slain the gentlest man That ever yet was born.
60 ‘And back again thou shalt be led, And fast bound shalt thou be, To see if he will have thee slain, Or hanged on a tree.’
61 The beggar then thought all was wrong; They were set for his wrack; He saw nothing appearing then But ill upon worse back.
62 Were he out of their hands, he thought, And had again his tree, He should not be had back for nought, With such as he did see.
63 Then he bethought him on a wile, If it could take effect, How he the young men might beguile, And give them a begeck.
64 Thus for to do them shame or ill His beastly breast was bent; He found the wind grew something shril, To further his intent.
65 He said, Brave gentlemen, be good, And let the poor man be; When ye have taken a beggar’s blood, It helps you not a flee.
66 It was but in my own defence, If he hath gotten skaith; But I will make a recompence, Much better for you baith.
67 If ye will set me safe and free, And do me no danger, An hundred pounds I will you give, And much more good silver,
68 That I have gathered these many years, Under this clouted cloak, And hid up wonder privately, In bottom of my pock.
69 The young men to a council yeed, And let the beggar gae; They wist how well he had no speed From them to run away.
70 They thought they would the money take, Come after what so may, And then they would not bring him back, But in that part him slay.
71 By that good Robin would not know That they had gotten coin; It would content him for to show That there they had him slain.
72 They said, False carl, soon have done And tell forth that money; For the ill turn thou hast done ’Tis but a simple fee.
73 And yet we will not have thee back, Come after what so may, If thou will do that which thou spake, And make us present pay.
74 O then he loosd his clouted cloak, And spread it on the ground, And thereon laid he many a pock, Betwixt them and the wind.
75 He took a great bag from his hase; It was near full of meal; Two pecks in it at least there was, And more, I wot full well.
76 Upon his cloak he laid it down, The mouth he opend wide, To turn the same he made him bown, The young men ready spy’d.
77 In every hand he took a nook Of that great leathern meal, And with a fling the meal he shook Into their faces hail.
78 Wherewith he blinded them so close A stime they could not see; And then in heart he did rejoice, And clapt his lusty tree.
79 He thought, if he had done them wrong In mealing of their cloaths, For to strike off the meal again With his pike-staff he goes.
80 Or any one of them could red their eyne, Or yet a glimmering could see, Ilk ane of them a dozen had, Well laid on with the tree.
81 The young men were right swift of foot, And boldly ran away; The beggar could them no more hit, For all the haste he may.
82 ‘What ails this haste?’ the beggar said, ‘May ye not tarry still, Until your money be receivd? I’ll pay you with good will.
83 ‘The shaking of my pocks, I fear, Hath blown into your eyne; But I have a good pike-staff here Will ripe them out full clean.’
84 The young men answerd neer a word, They were dumb as a stane; In the thick wood the beggar fled, Eer they riped their eyne.
85 And syne the night became so late, To seek him was but vain: But judge ye, if they looked blate When they came home again.
86 Good Robin speard how they had sped; They answerd him, Full ill; ‘That cannot be,’ good Robin says; ‘Ye have been at the mill.
87 ‘The mill it is a meatrif place, They may lick what they please; Most like ye have been at that art, Who would look to your cloaths.’
88 They hangd their heads, and droped down, A word they could not speak: Robin said, Because I fell a-swoon, I think you’ll do the like.
89 Tell on the matter, less and more, And tell me what and how Ye have done with the bold beggar I sent you for right now.
90 And then they told him to an end, As I have said before, How that the beggar did them blind, What misters process more.
91 And how he lin’d their shoulders broad With his great trenchen tree, And how in the thick wood he fled, Eer they a stime could see.
92 And how they scarcely could win home, Their bones were beft so sore: Good Robin cry’d, Fy! out, for shame! We’re sham’d for evermore.
93 Altho good Robin would full fain Of his wrong revenged be, He smil’d to see his merry young men Had gotten a taste of the tree.
* * * * *
#a.#
The History of Robin Hood and the Beggar: in two Parts. Part I: Shewing how Robin Hood, in attempting to rob a Beggar near Barnesdale, was shamefully defeated, and left for dead, till taken up by three of his men. Part II: How the beggar blinded two of his men with a bag of meal, who were sent to kill him or bring him back.
Title prefixed to the ballad: Robin Hood and the Beggar.
In stanzas of two long lines. After 30: The Second Part.
22^3. arrows.
30^1. but sail: that is, but ſail.
38^3. you for your.
41^2. ill a case: which perhaps should be retained.
46^1. and for with.
46^4. the eild.
48^3. a another.
51^4. fate: #b#, late, that is, let.
53^3. quite.
65^4. fly: #b#, flee.
77^3. sling: that is, ſling.
79^3. strick.
89^2. where and.
#b.#
In stanzas of two long lines.
Some of these readings may be Ritson’s corrections.
1^2. That be.
2^4. a wanting.
3^2. Who for That.
4^2. frae the.
5^2. whang.
5^3. to a.
7^1. cast.
8^3. heard him not.
8^4. on his.
9^1. ’Tis be.
9^3. said.
11^3. shares well.
11^4. dost not care.
12^1. all this.
12^3. would I.
13^1. you must.
13^2. two wanting.
14^1. art a.
15^2. asembled.
15^3. has.
16^1. Come lay.
17^3. if wanting.
20^4. Wouldst: it wanting.
21^4. Lo eer.
22^3. arrow.
24^{2,4}. mair, sair.
25^3. ſlaps.
26^2. baiſt.
26^3. laid on loud for still on laid.
27^1. Fy wanting.
27^3. still till: money told.
28^4. hast been at the.
29^3. pale for white.
30^1. but fail.
30^2. his way.
30^3. ye.
31^2. by the.
31^4. where that he lay.
33^2. wound.
34^1. gotten for taken.
34^2. unto.
34^3. to hitch his ear.
34^4. speak.
35^1. said.
36^2. this twenty.
36^4. ye.
37^2. Of whom.
37^3. with his.
37^4. ‘twill.
38^1. out wanting.
38^3. eer ye.
40^4. escape.
41^2. ill at ease.
42^3. And he.
43^1. ye, good wanting.
43^4. has.
44^5. ye.
45^3. hands lay.
45^4. Ye.
46^1. with his.
46^4. his eild.
47^3. no wanting.
47^4. Then he.
48^{1,2}. wanting.
49^1. They stoutly.
49^3. They started at neither how nor height.
50^2. cast them.
51^2. In each.
51^3. them nigh.
51^4. thought of no such late.
54^3. let it.
54^4. An better might it been.
55^2. any for one.
56^1. Nor wist he.
56^4. He for And.
57^2. on the.
57^3. And hold.
57^4. Or else.
58^2. Neither by late or air.
58^3. You have great sin if you would.
59^2. For all.
59^4. Of one that eer.
60^1. shall.
62^3. led back.
63^3. he might the young men.
63^4. gave them a begack.
64^1. for wanting: for ill.
64^3. blew for grew.
65^2. a poor.
65^4. flee.
66^2. has.
66^4. Is better.
67^1. fair and.
67^2. no more dear.
67^4. odd for good.
68^1. this.
69^1. to the.
69^3. full well.
70^3. And yet: not take.
70^4. that place.
71^3. for wanting.
72^2. forth thy.
72^3. turn that.
72^4. It’s: plee for fee.
74^3. lay he.
75^1. half, that is, half.
76^1. this cloak: set it.
76^3. bound.
77^2. bag for meal.
77^3. fling.
77^4. face all hail.
79^2. cloath.
79^3. strike.
80^1. Eer any of.
80^2. Or a glimmering might.
80^4. with his.
81^2. boldly bound.
82^1. What’s all this.
82^2. May not thou.
83^4. Can ripe.
85^2. in vain.
87^1. meat rife part.
87^3. at the.
87^4. at your.
88^1. they drooped.
88^3. a sound.
88^4. ye.
89^1. less or.
89^2. what and.
90^1. And when.
90^4. presses for process.
91^{1,2}. wanting.
91^3. woods.
92^2. were baste.
93^2. his wrath.
135
ROBIN HOOD AND THE SHEPHERD
#a.# Garland of 1663, No 13.
#b.# Garland of 1670, No 12.
#c.# Wood, 401, leaf 13 b.
#d.# Pepys, II, 115, No 102.
Roxburghe, II, 392, III, 284; Douce, III, 115 b, by L. How, of the eighteenth century. A manuscript copy in the British Museum, Add. 15072, fol. 59, is #a#, with omission of 12^2–15^4, and a few errors of carelessness.
Printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood from #c# and one of the Roxburghe broadsides. Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 136, seems to have followed the Aldermary garland, with slight deviation.
Robin Hood, walking in the forest, finds a shepherd lying on the ground, and bids him rise and show what he has in his bottle and bag. The shepherd tells him that he shall not see a drop of his bottle until his valor has been tried. Robin stakes twenty pound on the issue of a fight, and the shepherd his bag and bottle. They fight from ten to four, hook against sword. Robin Hood falls to the ground, and the shepherd calls on him to own himself beaten. Robin demands the boon of three blasts on his horn. These bring Little John, who undertakes the shepherd, and is so roughly handled that Robin is fain to yield his wager, to which Little John heartily agrees.
It is but the natural course of exaggeration that the shepherd, having beaten Robin Hood, should beat Little John. This is descending low enough, but we do not see the bottom of this kind of balladry here.
In King Alfred and the Shepherd, Old Ballads, 1723, I, 43, stanzas 6–17, the king plays Robin’s part, fighting four hours with the Shepherd and then craving a truce. Further on Alfred blows his horn. There are also verbal agreements.
1 All gentlemen and yeomen good, Down a down a down a down I wish you to draw near; For a story of gallant brave Robin Hood Vnto you I wil declare. Down, etc.
2 As Robin Hood walkt the forrest along, Some pastime for to spie, There was he aware of a jolly shepherd, That on the ground did lie.
3 ‘Arise, arise,’ cryed jolly Robin, ‘And now come let me see What is in thy bag and bottle, I say; Come tell it unto me.’
4 ‘What’s that to thee, thou proud fellow? Tell me as I do stand What thou hast to do with my bag and bottle? Let me see thy command.’
5 ‘My sword, which hangeth by my side, Is my command I know; Come, and let me taste of thy bottle, Or it may breed thee wo.’
6 ‘Tut, the devil a drop, thou proud fellow, Of my bottle thou shalt see, Untill thy valour here be tried, Whether thou wilt fight or flee.’
7 ‘What shall we fight for?’ cries bold Robin Hood; ‘Come tell it soon to me; Here is twenty pounds in good red gold; Win it, and take it thee.’
8 The Shepherd stood all in a maze, And knew not what to say: ‘I have no money, thou proud fellow, But bag and bottle I’le lay.’
9 ‘I am content, thou shepherd-swain, Fling them down on the ground; But it will breed thee mickle pain, To win my twenty pound.’
10 ‘Come draw thy sword, thou proud fellow, Thou stands too long to prate; This hook of mine shall let thee know A coward I do hate.’
11 So they fell to it, full hardy and sore; It was on a summers day; From ten till four in the afternoon The Shepherd held him play.
12 Robins buckler proved his chief defence, And saved him many a bang, For every blow the Shepherd gave Made Robins sword cry twang.
13 Many a sturdy blow the Shepherd gave, And that bold Robin found, Till the blood ran trickling from his head; Then he fell to the ground.
14 ‘Arise, arise, thou proud fellow, And thou shalt have fair play, If thou wilt yield, before thou go, That I have won the day.’
15 ‘A boon, a boon,’ cried bold Robin; ‘If that a man thou be, Then let me take my beaugle-horn, And blow but blasts three.’
16 ‘To blow three times three,’ the Shepherd said, ‘I will not thee deny; For if thou shouldst blow till to-morrow morn, I scorn one foot to fly.’
17 Then Robin set his horn to his mouth, And he blew with mickle main, Until he espied Little John Come tripping over the plain.
18 ‘O who is yonder, thou proud fellow, That comes down yonder hill?’ ‘Yonder is Little John, bold Robin Hoods man, Shall fight with thee thy fill.’
19 ‘What is the matter?’ saies Little John, ‘Master, come tell to me:’ ‘My case is great,’ saies Robin Hood, ‘For the Shepherd hath conquered me.’
20 ‘I am glad of that,’ cries Little John, ‘Shepherd, turn thou to me; For a bout with thee I mean to have, Either come fight or flee.’
21 ‘With all my heart, thou proud fellow, For it never shall be said That a shepherds hook of thy sturdy look Will one jot be dismaid.’
22 So they fell to it, full hardy and sore, Striving for victory; ‘I will know,’ saies John, ‘ere we give ore, Whether thou wilt fight or flye.’
23 The Shepherd gave John a sturdy blow, With his hook under the chin; ‘Beshrew thy heart,’ said Little John, ‘Thou basely dost begin.’
24 ‘Nay, that’s nothing,’ said the Shepherd; ‘Either yield to me the day, Or I will bang thee back and sides, Before thou goest thy way.
25 ‘What? dost thou think, thou proud fellow, That thou canst conquer me? Nay, thou shalt know, before thou go, I’le fight before I’le flee.’
26 With that to thrash Little John like mad The Shepherd he begun; ‘Hold, hold,’ cryed bold Robin Hood, ‘And I’le yield the wager won.’
27 ‘With all my heart,’ said Little John, ‘To that I will agree; For he is the flower of shepherd-swains, The like I never did see.’
28 Thus have you heard of Robin Hood, Also of Little John, How a shepherd-swain did conquer them; The like did never none.
* * * * *
#a#, #b#.
Robin Hood and the Shepard: Shewing how Robin Hood, Little John and the Shepheard fought a sore combate.
Tune is, Robin Hood and Queen Katherine.
#a.#
Burden: a third a down is not printed after the first line, but is after the last.
4^3. hast thou.
5^4. thy wo.
7^2. Gome.
20^4. Eihter.
26^2. Sheherd.
#b.#
Burden: Down a down a down a down.
After 9^1, 21^4, With a, &c.
1^3. bold for brave.
4^3. thou hast.
5^3. tast.
5^4. thee for thy.
7^1. bold wanting.
7^3. pound.
10^2. standst.
12^1. chiefest.
13^3. tickling.
16^1. Then said the Shepherd to bold Robin.
16^2. wanting.
17^1. Robin he.
18^3. Little wanting.
19^3. is very bad, cries.
26^1. Again the Shepherd laid on him.
26^4. And wanting: I will.
27^4. I did never.
28^4. was never known.
#c.#
Robin Hood and the Shepheard: Shewing how Robin Hood, Little John and the Shepheard fought a sore combat.
The Shepherd fought for twenty pound, And Robin for bottle and bag, But the Shepheard stout gave them the rout So sore they could not wag.
The tune is Robin and Queen Katherine.
London, Printed for John Andrews, at the White Lion, in Pie-Corner. (1660.)
Burden: Down a down a down a down.
1^3. bold for brave.
4^3. thou hast.
5^4. my wo.
8^1. amaze.
11^3. four till ten.
12^1. chiefest.
13^4. And then.
16^1. wanting.
19^3. cries for saies.
19^4. hath beaten.
22^3. ile know saith.
22^4. flee.
25^1. doest.
26^1. wanting.
26^2. began.
26^4. And wanting: I will.
27^3. Shepheards.
27^4. I did never.
#d.#
Title as in #a#, #b#.
Printed for William Thackeray, at the Angel in Duck Lane. (1689.)
Burden: Down a down down.
1^3. bold for brave.
2^3. he was.
4^3. hast thou, as in #a#.
5^1. that for which.
5^4. thy woe, as in #a#.
6^1. Tut wanting.
7^1. bold wanting.
7^3. pound.
10^2. standest.
11^1. hard.
12^1. chiefest.
15^3. beagle.
16^1. Then said the Shepherd to bold Robin.
16^2. To that will I agree.
16^4. flee.
17^1. he set.
17^2. with might and main.
18^3. Little wanting.
19^3. bad cries.
21^2. shall never.
21^3. at thy.
22^4. flee.
24^3. thy for thee.
26^1. Again the Shepherd laid on him.
26^2. began.
26^3. Hood wanting.
26^4. And wanting: I will.
27^4. I did never.
28^4. The like was never known.
136
ROBIN HOOD’S DELIGHT
(ROBIN HOOD, JOHN, SCARLOCK AND THREE KEEPERS)
#a.# Wood, 401, leaf 41 b.
#b.# Garland of 1663, No 17.
#c.# Garland of 1670, No 16.
#d.# Pepys, II, 112, No 99.
Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 116, from #a#, with changes. Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 176.
Robin Hood, Scarlock, and John, walking in Sherwood, are charged to stand by three of King Henry’s keepers. There is a fight from eight till two o’clock, in which the outlaws are at some disadvantage. Robin asks that he may blow his horn, then he will fight again. The keepers refuse; he must fall on or yield. Robin owns them to be stout fellows; he will not fight it out there with swords, but at Nottingham with sack. They go to Nottingham accordingly, and drink themselves good friends.
The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood, No 132, a late traditional copy, shows traces of st. 20 of this ballad in st. 12, where the Pedlar says it lies with him whether he will tell his name, and again at the end, where Robin Hood, John, and the Pedlar drink friendship at the tavern. Robin Hood’s antagonists are again foresters and keepers in the Progress to Nottingham, and in Robin Hood and the Ranger. There are numerous verbal agreements between Robin Hood’s Delight and Robin Hood and the Shepherd.
Translated by Loève-Veimars, p. 199.
1 There is some will talk of lords and knights, Doun a doun a doun a doun And some of yeoman good, But I will tell you of Will Scarlock, Little John and Robin Hood. Doun a doun a doun a doun
2 They were outlaws, as ’tis well known, And men of a noble blood; And a many a time was their valour shown In the forrest of merry Sheerwood.
3 Vpon a time it chanced so, As Robin Hood would have it be, They all three would a walking go, Some pastime for to see.
4 And as they walked the forest along, Upon a midsummer day, There was they aware of three keepers, Clade all in green aray.
5 With brave long faucheons by their sides, And forest-bills in hand, They calld aloud to those bold outlaws, And charged them to stand.
6 ‘Why, who are you,’ cry’d bold Robin, ‘That speaks so boldly here? ’ ‘We three belong to King Henry, And are keepers of his deer.’
7 ‘The devil thou art!’ sayes Robin Hood, ‘I am sure that it is not so; We be the keepers of this forest, And that you soon shall know.
8 ‘Come, your coats of green lay on the ground, And so will we all three, And take your swords and bucklers round, And try the victory.’
9 ‘We be content,’ the keepers said, ‘We be three, and you no less; Then why should we be of you afraid, And we never did transgress?’
10 ‘Why, if you be three keepers in this forest, Then we be three rangers good, And we will make you to know, before you do go, You meet with bold Robin Hood.’
11 ‘We be content, thou bold outlaw, Our valour here to try, And we will make you know, before we do go, We will fight before we will fly.
12 ‘Then, come draw your swords, you bold outlaws, And no longer stand to prate, But let us try it out with blows, For cowards we do hate.
13 ‘Here is one of us for Will Scarlock, And another for Little John, And I my self for Robin Hood, Because he is stout and strong.’
14 So they fell to it full hard and sore; It was on a midsummers day; From eight a clock till two and past, They all shewed gallant play.
15 There Robin, and Will, and Little John, They fought most manfully, Till all their winde was spent and gone, Then Robin aloud did cry:
16 ‘O hold, O hold,’ cries bold Robin, ‘I see you be stout men; Let me blow one blast on my bugle-horn, Then I’le fight with you again.’
17 ‘That bargain’s to make, bold Robin Hood, Therefore we it deny; Though a blast upon thy bugle-horn Cannot make us fight nor fly.
18 ‘Therefore fall on, or else be gone, And yield to us the day: It shall never be said that we were afraid Of thee, nor thy yeomen gay.’
19 ‘If that be so,’ cries bold Robin, ‘Let me but know your names, And in the forest of merry Sheerwood I shall extol your fames.’
20 ‘And with our names,’ one of them said, ‘What hast thou here to do? Except that you will fight it out, Our names thou shalt not know.’
21 ‘We will fight no more,’ sayes bold Robin, ‘You be men of valour stout; Come and go with me to Nottingham, And there we will fight it out.
22 ‘With a but of sack we will bang it out, To see who wins the day; And for the cost, make you no doubt I have gold and money to pay
23 ‘And ever after, so long as we live, We all will brethren be; For I love those men with heart and hand That will fight, and never flee.’
24 So away they went to Nottingham, With sack to make amends; For three dayes space they wine did chase, And drank themselves good friends.
* * * * *
#a.#
Robin Hood’s Delight, or, A merry combat fought between Robin Hood, Little John and Will Scarelock and three stout Keepers in Sheerwood Forrest.
Robin was valiant and stout, so was Scarelock and John, in the field, But these keepers stout did give them the rout, and made them all for to yield; But after the battel ended was, bold Robin did make them amends, For claret and sack they did not lack, so drank themselves good friends.
To the tune of Robin Hood and Quene Katherine, or, Robin Hood and the Shepheard.
London, Printed for John Andrews, at the White Lion, near Pye Corner. (1660.)
#b#, #c#.
Title the same, without the verses: Scarlet for Scarelock.
1^2. #b#, yeomen.
1^3, 13^1. Scarlet.
2^1. it is.
2^3. And many.
4^3. was he: #c#, forresters for keepers.
5^1. side.
5^2. #c#, forrests bils.
5^3. #c#, bold wanting.
7^1. #b#, bold Robin, Hood wanting: #c#, said Robin Hood.
7^2. #b#, it wanting: #c#, that wanting.
10^4. met.
11^3. do wanting.
11^4. #b.# wee’l.
16^1. #c.# thy hand cryes.
17^1. is.
19^3. #c.# in that.
19^4. #b.# I will.
20^3. thou wilt.
23^1. hereafter.
#d.#
Title as in #b#, #c#, except: fought against.
Printed for William Thackeray, at the Angel in Duck Lane. (1689.)
1^1. There’s.
1^2. yeomen.
1^3, 13^1. Scarlet.
2^3. And many.
4^3. forresters for keepers.
5^3. bold wanting.
6^2. speak.
7^1. said.
7^2. that wanting.
7^3. the wanting: in for of.
8^1. Come wanting.
9^2. you wanting.
9^3. we of you be.
10^1. the for three.
10^3. we’l: to wanting.
11^3. first we, do wanting.
14^1. hardy.
15^3. spend.
16^3. with my beagle.
17^1. is.
17^3. Thy blast: beagle.
18^3. never shall: we are.
20^3. thou wilt.
23^1. hereafter.
23^3. these.
137
ROBIN HOOD AND THE PEDLARS
‘Robinhood and the Peddlers,’ the fourth ballad in a MS. formerly in the possession of J. Payne Collier, now in the British Museum; previously printed in Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 351.
The manuscript in which this ballad occurs contains a variety of matters, and, as the best authority[113] has declared, may in part have been written as early as 1650, but all the ballads are in a nineteenth-century hand, and some of them are maintained to be forgeries. I see no sufficient reason for regarding this particular piece as spurious, and therefore, though I should be glad to be rid of it, accept it for the present as perhaps a copy of a broadside, or a copy of a copy.
The story resembles that of Robin Hood’s Delight, pedlars taking the place of keepers; but Robin is reduced to an ignominy paralleled only in the second ballad of Robin Hood and the Beggar. Robin Hood, accompanied by Scarlet and John, bids three pedlars stand. They pay no heed, and he sends an arrow through the pack of one of them. Hereupon they throw down their packs and wait for their assailants to come up. Robin’s bow is broken by a blow from a staff of one of the pedlars. Robin calls a truce until he and his men can get staves. There is then an equal fight, the end of which is that Robin Hood is knocked senseless and left in a swoon, tended by Scarlet and John. But before the pedlars set forward, Kit o Thirske, the best man of the three, and the one who has fought with Robin, administers a balsam to his fallen foe, which he says will heal his hurts, but which operates unpleasantly.
Thirsk is about twenty miles from York, in the North Riding.
1 Will you heare a tale of Robin Hood, Will Scarlett, and Little John? Now listen awhile, it will make you smile, As before it hath many done.
2 They were archers three, of hie degree, As good as ever drewe bowe; Their arrowes were long and their armes were strong, As most had cause to knowe.
3 But one sommers day, as they toke their way Through the forrest of greene Sherwood, To kill the kings deare, you shall presently heare What befell these archers good.
4 They were ware on the roade of three peddlers with loade, Ffor each had his packe, Ffull of all wares for countrie faires, Trusst up upon his backe.
5 A good oke staffe, a yard and a halfe, Each one had in his hande; And they were all bound to Nottingham towne, As you shall understand.
6 ‘Yonder I see bolde peddlers three,’ Said Robin to Scarlett and John; ‘We’le search their packes upon their backes Before that they be gone.
7 ‘Holla, good fellowes!’ quod Robin Hood, ‘Whither is it ye doe goe? Now stay and rest, for that is the best, ’Tis well ye should doe soe.’
8 ‘Noe rest we neede, on our roade we speede, Till to Nottingham we get:’ ‘Thou tellst a lewde lye,’ said Robin, ‘for I Can see that ye swinke and swet.’
9 The peddlers three crosst over the lee, They did not list to fight: ‘I charge you tarrie,’ quod Robin, ‘for marry, This is my owne land by right.
10 ‘This is my mannor and this is my parke, I would have ye for to knowe; Ye are bolde outlawes, I see by cause Ye are so prest to goe.’
11 The peddlers three turned round to see Who it might be they herd; Then agen went on as they list to be gone, And never answered word.
12 Then toke Robin Hood an arrow so good, Which he did never lacke, And drew his bowe, and the swift arrowe Went through the last peddlers packe.
13 Ffor him it was well on the packe it fell, Or his life had found an ende; And it pierst the skin of his backe within, Though the packe did stand his frend.
14 Then downe they flung their packes eche one, And stayde till Robin came: Quod Robin, I saide ye had better stayde; Good sooth, ye were to blame.
15 ‘And who art thou? by S. Crispin, I vowe I’le quickly cracke thy head!’ Cried Robin, Come on, all three, or one; It is not so soone done as said.
16 My name, by the roode, is Robin Hood, And this is Scarlett and John; It is three to three, ye may plainelie see, Soe now, brave fellowes, laye on.
17 The first peddlars blowe brake Robins bowe That he had in his hand; And Scarlett and John, they eche had one That they unneath could stand.
18 ‘Now holde your handes,’ cride Robin Hood, ‘Ffor ye have got oken staves; But tarie till wee can get but three, And a fig for all your braves.’
19 Of the peddlers the first, his name Kit o Thirske, Said, We are all content; Soe eche tooke a stake for his weapon, to make The peddlers to repent.
20 Soe to it they fell, and their blowes did ring well Uppon the others backes; And gave the peddlers cause to wish They had not cast their packes.
21 Yet the peddlers three of their blowes were so free That Robin began for to rue; And Scarlett and John had such loade laide on It made the sunne looke blue.
22 At last Kits oke caught Robin a stroke That made his head to sound; He staggerd, and reelde, till he fell on the fielde, And the trees with him went round.
23 ‘Now holde your handes,’ cride Little John, And soe said Scarlett eke; ‘Our maister is slaine, I tell you plaine, He never more will speake.’
24 ‘Now, heaven forefend he come to that ende,’ Said Kit, ‘I love him well; But lett him learne to be wise in turne, And not with pore peddlers mell.
25 ‘In my packe, God wot, I a balsame have got That soone his hurts will heale;’ And into Robin Hoods gaping mouth He presentlie powrde some deale.
26 ‘Now fare ye well, tis best not to tell How ye three peddlers met; Or if ye doe, prithee tell alsoe How they made ye swinke and swett.’
27 Poore Robin in sound they left on the ground, And hied them to Nottingham, While Scarlett and John Robin tended on, Till at length his senses came.
28 Noe soone[r], in haste, did Robin Hood taste The balsame he had tane, Than he gan to spewe, and up he threwe The balsame all againe.
29 And Scarlett and John, who were looking on Their maister as he did lie, Had their faces besmeard, both eies and beard, Therewith most piteously.
30 Thus ended that fray; soe beware alwaye How ye doe challenge foes; Looke well aboute they are not to stoute, Or you may have worst of the blowes.
138
ROBIN HOOD AND ALLEN A DALE
#a.# ‘Robin Hood and Allin of Dale,’ Douce, II, leaf 185.
#b.# ‘Robin Hood and Allin of Dale,’ Pepys, II, 110, No 97.
#c.# ‘Robin Hood and Allen a Dale,’ Douce, III, 119 b.
Printed in A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, II, 44, and Evans’s Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 126, after a copy very near to #c#. In Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 46, probably after Roxburghe II, 394. Not included in the garlands of 1663, 1670; in a garland of 1749, the Aldermary garland, R. Marshall, and the Lichfield, M. Morgan, both not dated, No 8; in the York garland, 1811, No 9. In the Kinloch MSS, V, 183, there is a copy, derived from the broadside, but Scotticised, and improved in the process.
A young man, Allen a Dale, whom Robin Hood has seen passing, one day singing and the next morning sighing, is stopped by Little John and the Miller’s Son, and brought before their master, who asks him if he has any money. He has five shillings and a ring, and was to have been married the day before, but his bride has been given to an old knight. Robin asks what he will give to get his true-love. All that he can give is his faithful service. Robin goes to the church and declares the match not fit: the bride shall choose for herself. He blows his horn, and four-and-twenty of his men appear, the foremost of whom is Allen a Dale. Robin tells Allen that he shall be married on the spot. The bishop says no; there must be three askings. Robin puts the bishop’s coat on Little John, and Little John asks seven times. Robin gives Allen the maid, and bids the man take her away that dare.
The ballad, it will be observed, is first found in broadside copies of the latter half of the seventeenth century. The story is told of Scarlock in the life of Robin Hood in Sloane MS, 715, 7, fol. 157, of the end of the sixteenth century; Thoms, Early Prose Romances, II, p. 39.
“Scarlock he induced [to become one of his company] upon this occacion. One day meting him as he walked solitary and lyke to a man forlorne, because a mayd to whom he was affyanced was taken from [him] by the violence of her frends, and given to another, that was auld and welthy; whereupon Robin, understandyng when the maryage-day should be, came to the church as a beggar, and having his company not far of, which came in so sone as they hard the sound of his horne, he ‘took’ the bryde perforce from him that was in hand to have maryed her, and caused the preist to wed her and Scarlocke togeyther.”
Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 146.
1 Come listen to me, you gallants so free, All you that loves mirth for to hear, And I will you tell of a bold outlaw, That lived in Nottinghamshire. (bis.)
2 As Robin Hood in the forrest stood, All under the green-wood tree, There was he ware of a brave young man, As fine as fine might be.
3 The youngster was clothed in scarlet red, In scarlet fine and gay, And he did frisk it over the plain, And chanted a roundelay.
4 As Robin Hood next morning stood, Amongst the leaves so gay, There did he espy the same young man Come drooping along the way.
5 The scarlet he wore the day before, It was clean cast away; And every step he fetcht a sigh, ‘Alack and a well a day!’
6 Then stepped forth brave Little John, And Nick the millers son, Which made the young man bend his bow, When as he see them come.
7 ‘Stand off, stand off,’ the young man said, ‘What is your will with me?’ ‘You must come before our master straight, Vnder yon green-wood tree.’
8 And when he came bold Robin before, Robin askt him courteously, O hast thou any money to spare For my merry men and me?
9 ‘I have no money,’ the young man said, ‘But five shillings and a ring; And that I have kept this seven long years, To have it at my wedding.
10 ‘Yesterday I should have married a maid, But she is now from me tane, And chosen to be an old knights delight, Whereby my poor heart is slain.’
11 ‘What is thy name?’ then said Robin Hood, ‘Come tell me, without any fail:’ ‘By the faith of my body,’ then said the young man, ‘My name it is Allin a Dale.’
12 ‘What wilt thou give me,’ said Robin Hood, ‘In ready gold or fee, To help thee to thy true-love again, And deliver her unto thee?’
13 ‘I have no money,’ then quoth the young man, ‘No ready gold nor fee, But I will swear upon a book Thy true servant for to be.’
14 ‘How many miles is it to thy true-love? Come tell me without any guile:’ ‘By the faith of my body,’ then said the young man, ‘It is but five little mile.’
15 Then Robin he hasted over the plain, He did neither stint nor lin, Vntil he came unto the church Where Allin should keep his wedding.
16 ‘What dost thou do here?’ the bishop he said, ‘I prethee now tell to me:’ ‘I am a bold harper,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘And the best in the north countrey.’
17 ‘O welcome, O welcome,’ the bishop he said, ‘That musick best pleaseth me;’ ‘You shall have no musick,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘Till the bride and the bridegroom I see.’
18 With that came in a wealthy knight, Which was both grave and old, And after him a finikin lass, Did shine like glistering gold.
19 ‘This is no fit match,’ quoth bold Robin Hood, ‘That you do seem to make here; For since we are come unto the church, The bride she shall chuse her own dear.’
20 Then Robin Hood put his horn to his mouth, And blew blasts two or three; When four and twenty bowmen bold Came leaping over the lee.
21 And when they came into the church-yard, Marching all on a row, The first man was Allin a Dale, To give bold Robin his bow.
22 ‘This is thy true-love,’ Robin he said, ‘Young Allin, as I hear say; And you shall be married at this same time, Before we depart away.’
23 ‘That shall not be,’ the bishop he said, ‘For thy word shall not stand; They shall be three times askt in the church, As the law is of our land.’
24 Robin Hood pulld off the bishops coat, And put it upon Little John; ‘By the faith of my body,’ then Robin said, ‘This cloath doth make thee a man.’
25 When Little John went into the quire, The people began for to laugh; He askt them seven times in the church, Least three times should not be enough.
26 ‘Who gives me this maid,’ then said Little John; Quoth Robin, That do I, And he that doth take her from Allin a Dale Full dearly he shall her buy.
27 And thus having ended this merry wedding, The bride lookt as fresh as a queen, And so they returnd to the merry green wood, Amongst the leaves so green.
* * * * *
#a.#
Robin Hood and Allin of Dale: Or, a pleasant relation how a young gentleman being in love with a young damsel, which was taken from him to be an old knight’s bride, and how Robin Hood, pittying the young mans case, took her from the old knight, when they were going to be marryed, and restored her to her own true love again.
Bold Robin Hood he did the young man right, And took the damsel from the doteing knight.
To a pleasant northern tune, or, Robin Hood in the green wood stood.
With allowance. Printed for F. Cole, T. Vere, J. Wright and J. Clarke. (Coles, Vere and Wright, 1655–80, J. Clarke, 1650–82: Chappell.)
11^4. Alllin.
18^1. wealhty.
22^3. marrid.
#b.#
Title, etc., as in #a#.
With allowance. Printed for Alex. Milbourn, in Green-Arbor-Court, in the Little-Old-Baily. (Alexander Milbourne 1670–97: Chappell.)
1^3. tell you.
2^3. he was aware.
10^2. she was from me tane.
16^1. dost thou here.
16^2. unto.
18^4. like the.
19^1. not a fit: qd.
25^2. for wanting.
26^1. then wanting.
26^3. And wanting.
27^1. having ende of.
27^2. lookt like a.
#c.#
Robin Hood and Allen a Dale: Or, the manner of Robin Hood’s rescuing a young lady from an old knight to whom she was going to be married, and restoring her to Allen a Dale, her former love.
To the tune of Robin Hood in the green wood.
No printer. Sold in Bow-Church-Yard, London.
1^3. tell you.
2^3. aware.
4^3. spy.
5^2. quite for clean.
6^2. Midge for Nick.
9^3. these seven.
10^2. she was from me taen.
11^2. any wanting.
13^4. for wanting.
16^1. do wanting: then for he.
16^2. unto me.
17^1. then for he.
18^4. Who shone like the glittering.
19^1. not a fit.
19^4. she wanting.
22^3. at the.
24^3. Robin he.
24^4. This coat.
25^1. to for into.
25^2. for wanting.
26^1. me wanting: maid, says.
27^2. bride she lookd like a.
139
ROBIN HOOD’S PROGRESS TO NOTTINGHAM
#a.# Wood, 402, leaf 14 b. #b.# Wood, 401, leaf 37 b. #c.# Garland of 1663, No 2. #d.# Garland of 1670, No 1. #e.# Pepys, II, 104, No 92.
This piece occurs also in the Roxburghe Ballads, III, 270, 845, the Douce, III, 120, was among Heber’s ballads (a copy by W. Onley), and is probably in all collections of broadsides.
#a# or #b# was printed by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 12. A copy in Evans’s Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 96, is later, and very like Douce, III, 120.
When Robin Hood is but fifteen years of age, he falls in with fifteen foresters who are drinking together at Nottingham. They hear with scorn that he intends to take part in a shooting-match. He wagers with them that he will kill a hart at a hundred rod, and does this. They refuse to pay, and bid him begone if he would save his sides from a basting. Robin kills them all with his bow; people come out from Nottingham to take him, but get very much hurt. Robin goes to the green wood; the townsmen bury the foresters.
This is evidently a comparatively late ballad, but has not come down to us in its oldest form. The story is told to the following effect in the life of Robin Hood in Sloane MS. 715, 7, fol. 157, written, as it seems, says Ritson, towards the end of the sixteenth century. Robin Hood, going into a forest with a bow of extraordinary strength, fell in with some rangers, or woodmen, who gibed at him for pretending to use a bow such as no man could shoot with. Robin said that he had two better, and that the one he had with him was only a “birding-bow”; nevertheless he would lay his head against a certain sum of money that he would kill a deer with it at a great distance. When the chance offered, one of the rangers sought to disconcert him by reminding him that he would lose his head if he missed his mark. Robin won the wager, and gave every man his money back except the one who had tried to fluster him. A quarrel followed, which ended with Robin’s killing them all, and consequently betaking himself to life in the woods. Thoms, Early Prose Romances, II, Robin Hood, 37 ff.
Douce notes in his copy of Ritson’s Robin Hood (Bodleian Library) the second stanza of this ballad as it is cited in the Duke of Newcastle’s play, ‘The Varietie’:
When Robin came to Nottingham, His dinner all for to dine, There met him fifteen jolly foresters, Were drinking ale and wine.
Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 123.
Translated by A. Grün, p. 61; Doenniges, p. 170.
1 Robin Hood hee was and a tall young man, Derry derry down And fifteen winters old, And Robin Hood he was a proper young man, Of courage stout and bold. Hey down derry derry down
2 Robin Hood he would and to fair Nottingham, With the general for to dine; There was he ware of fifteen forresters, And a drinking bear, ale, and wine.
3 ‘What news? What news?’ said bold Robin Hood; ‘What news, fain wouldest thou know? Our king hath provided a shooting-match:’ ‘And I’m ready with my bow.’
4 ‘We hold it in scorn,’ then said the forresters, ‘That ever a boy so young Should bear a bow before our king, That’s not able to draw one string.’
5 ‘I’le hold you twenty marks,’ said bold Robin Hood, ‘By the leave of Our Lady, That I’le hit a mark a hundred rod, And I’le cause a hart to dye.’
6 ‘We’l hold you twenty mark,’ then said the forresters, ‘By the leave of Our Lady, Thou hitst not the marke a hundred rod, Nor causest a hart to dye.’
7 Robin Hood he bent up a noble bow, And a broad arrow he let flye, He hit the mark a hundred rod, And he caused a hart to dy.
8 Some said hee brake ribs one or two, And some said hee brake three; The arrow within the hart would not abide, But it glanced in two or three.
9 The hart did skip, and the hart did leap, And the hart lay on the ground; ‘The wager is mine,’ said bold Robin Hood, ‘If ’twere for a thousand pound.’
10 ‘The wager’s none of thine,’ then said the forresters, ‘Although thou beest in haste; Take up thy bow, and get thee hence, Lest wee thy sides do baste.’
11 Robin Hood hee took up his noble bow, And his broad arrows all amain, And Robin Hood he laught, and begun to smile, As hee went over the plain.
12 Then Robin Hood hee bent his noble bow, And his broad arrows he let flye, Till fourteen of these fifteen forresters Vpon the ground did lye.
13 He that did this quarrel first begin Went tripping over the plain; But Robin Hood he bent his noble bow, And hee fetcht him back again.
14 ‘You said I was no archer,’ said Robin Hood, ‘But say so now again;’ With that he sent another arrow That split his head in twain.
15 ‘You have found mee an archer,’ saith Robin Hood, ‘Which will make your wives for to wring, And wish that you had never spoke the word, That I could not draw one string.’
16 The people that lived in fair Nottingham Came runing out amain, Supposing to have taken bold Robin Hood, With the forresters that were slain.
17 Some lost legs, and some lost arms, And some did lose their blood, But Robin Hood hee took up his noble bow, And is gone to the merry green wood.
18 They carryed these forresters into fair Nottingham, As many there did know; They digd them graves in their church-yard, And they buried them all a row.
* * * * *
#a#, #b#.
Robin Hoods Progresse to Nottingham,
Where hee met with fifteen forresters, all on a row, And hee desired of them some news for to know, But with crosse graind words they did him thwart, For which at last hee made them smart.
To the tune of Bold Robin Hood.
#a.#
London, Printed for Fran. Grove. And entred according to order. (1620–55: Chappell.)
#b.#
London, Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright. (1655–80: Chappell.)
3. Commonly punctuated as if spoken entirely by Robin. There would certainly be an antecedent probability against three speeches in one stanza, in an older ballad.
#c#, #d#.
Robin Hoods Progress to Notingham, where he slew fifteen Forresters. To the tune of Bold Robin Hood.
#c.#
6^3. an.
7^3. a mark.
15^3. spake.
#d.#
7^3. an hundred.
11^3. began.
12^3. of the.
14^2. say you so.
14^3. he another arrnw let fly.
18^1. to fair.
#e.#
Title as in #a#, #b#, above, with these variations in the verse:
2, news to. 3, And with. 4, them for to.
Printed for J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. (1670–82?)
1^1. and wanting.
2^1. would unto.
2^3. aware.
4^1. scorn said bold R. Hood.
5^3. the mark an.
5^4, 7^4. one hart.
6^1. marks.
6^3. That thou: an.
7^3. an.
8^2. some say.
8^3. in for within.
11^2. all wanting.
11^3. began.
14^4. Which split.
15^1. said.
15^2. for wanting.
15^3. wish you ne’r had.
17^3. R. Hood he bent.
18^3. yards.
18^4. all on a row.
140
ROBIN HOOD RESCUING THREE SQUIRES
#A.# Percy MS., p. 5; Hales and Furnivall, I, 13; Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, II, 49.
#B. a.# ‘Robin Hood rescuing the Widow’s Three Sons from the Sheriff, when going to be executed,’ The English Archer, York, N. Nickson, n. d. #b.# The English Archer, Paisley, John Neilson, 1786. #c.# Adventures of ... Robin Hood, Falkirk, T. Johnston, 1808. All in the Bodleian Library, Douce, F.F. 71.
#C.# ‘Robin Hood rescuing the Three Squires from Nottingham Gallows.’ #a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, Printed by W. & C. Dicey, n. d. #b.# R. H.’s Garland, London, L. How, in Peticoat Lane, n. d. #c.# R. H.’s Garland, York, T. Wilson and R. Spence, n. d. #d.# R. H.’s Garland, Preston, W. Sergent, n. d. #e.# R. H.’s Garland, London, J. Marshall & Co., n. d. #f.# R. H.’s Garland, Wolverhampton, J. Smart, n. d. #a-d#, Douce, FF. 71, #f#, Douce, Add. 262, Bodleian Library.
#B# is given by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 151, “from the York edition of Robin Hood’s garland;” #C#, the same, II, 216, from an Aldermary Churchyard garland, and by Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 215.
#B.# Robin Hood, while on his way to Nottingham, meets an old woman who is weeping for three squires condemned to die that day, not for recognized crimes, but for killing the king’s deer. These seem to be his own men: st. 6. Pursuing his way, he meets an old “palmer,” really a beggar, who confirms the bad news. He changes clothes with the palmer (who at first thinks the proposal a mock), and at Nottingham comes upon the sheriff, and asks what he will give an old fellow to be his hangman. The sheriff offers suits and pence; Robin says, hangmen be cursed, he will never take to that business. He has a horn in his pocket which would blow the sheriff little good; the sheriff bids him blow his fill. The first blast brings a hundred and fifty of Robin’s men; the second brings three score more. They free their own men and hang the sheriff.
In #C# the three squires are expressly said to be the woman’s sons;[114] for the palmer we have a beggar; Robin asks it as a boon that he may be hangman, and will have nothing for his service but three blasts on his horn, ‘that their souls to heaven may flee.’ The horn brings a hundred and ten men, and the sheriff surrenders the three squires.
In the fragment #A#, Robin changes clothes with an old man, who appears by stanza 11 to be a beggar. His men are with him meanwhile, and he orders them to conceal themselves in a wood until they hear his horn. A blast brings three hundred of them; Robin casts off his beggar’s gear and stands in his red velvet doublet;[115] his men bend their bows and beset the gallows. The sheriff throws up his hands and begs for terms; Robin demands the three squires. The sheriff objects, for they are the king’s felons; Robin will have them, or the sheriff shall be the first man to flower the tree.
‘Robin Hood and the Beggar,’ No 133, from stanza 16, is another version of this ballad. Robin changes clothes with a beggar, after a hard fight in which he has had the worse, goes to Nottingham, and hears that three brothers are condemned to die. He hies to the sheriff to plead for them; a gentleman at the door tells him they must be hanged for deer-stealing clearly proved. At the gallows Robin blows his horn; a hundred archers present themselves, and ask his will. He commands them to shoot east and west and spare no man. The sheriff and his men, all that are not laid low, fly, and the three brothers, who have already shown their quality, are added to Robin’s company.
A Scottish version of #B#, derived from the English, is given in an appendix. It occurs in Kinloch MSS, V, 288, and may be as old as the York garland used by Ritson, or older.
Ritson was informed by his friend Edward Williams, the Welsh bard, that #C# and its tune were well known in South Wales by the name of Marchog Glas, or Green Knight. As to the tune, says Dr Rimbault, it is not to be found in the collections of Welsh airs, nor was his friend John Parry, then representing the Welsh bards, able to give any account of it. Nothing further is said by Rimbault, either way, of the ballad.
#B# 6, in which Robin reminds the old woman that she had once given him to sup and dine, implicitly as a reason for his exerting himself in behalf of the three squires (who, according to the title of the ballad, but not the text, are her three sons), looks like a reminiscence of st. 9 of R. H. and the Bishop, No 143, where an old woman shows her gratitude to Robin Hood for having given her shoes and hose, and may not originally have belonged here.[C]
#B# 1, #A# 9^{1,2}, 11^{3,4}, #B# 25, 28^{1,2} are almost repetitions of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, #A# 1, #A# 4^{3,4}, 12^{3,4}, #B# 26, 28^{1,2}.[116]
The rescue in the ballad is introduced into Anthony Munday’s play of The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, Act II, Scene 2. Scarlet and Scathlock, sons of Widow Scarlet, are to be hanged. Friar Tuck attends them as confessor. Robin Hood, disguised as an old man, pretends that they have killed his son, and asks the sheriff that they may be delivered to him for revenge. The sheriff allows them to be unbound. Robin, for a feigned reason, blows his horn; Little John and Much come in and begin a fight; Friar Tuck, pretending to help the sheriff, knocks down his men; the sheriff and his men run away. (Dodsley’s Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, VIII, 134–41.)
Ritson, Robin Hood, 1832, II, 155, suggests that the circumstance of Robin’s changing clothes with the palmer may possibly be taken from “the noble history of Ponthus of Galyce,” printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 1511, and cites this passage, which resembles the narrative in #B# 8, 10, 11: “And as he [Ponthus] rode, he met with a poore palmer, beggynge his brede, the whiche had his gowne all to-clouted and an olde pylled hatte: so he alyght, and sayd to the palmer, frende, we shall make a chaunge of all our garmentes, for ye shall have my gowne and I shall have yours and your hatte. A, syr, sayd the palmer, ye bourde you with me. In good fayth, sayd Ponthus, I do not; so he dyspoyled hym and cladde hym with all his rayment, and he put vpon hym the poore mannes gowne, his gyrdell, his hosyn, his shone, his hatte and his bourden.”
This noble history is taken from one in French which is merely the romance of Horn turned into prose, and it is also possible that the passage in the English ballad may be derived from some version of Hind Horn: see No 17.
Wallace changes clothes with a beggar in ‘Gude Wallace,’ No 157, #F#, #G#, where there is a general likeness to this ballad of Robin Hood. It may be noted that Wulric the Heron, one of the comrades of Hereward, rescues four brothers who were about to be hanged, killing some of their common enemies: Michel, Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, II, 51.
#B# is translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 135, Doenniges, p. 135, Knortz L. u. R. Altenglands, No 19; combined with #C#, by Talvj, Charakteristik, p. 489.
A
* * * * *
1 ‘. . . . . . . In faith thou shal[t] haue mine, And twenty pound in thy purse, To spend att ale and wine.’
2 ‘Though yo_u_r clothes are of light Lincolne green, And mine gray russett and torne, Yet it doth not you beseeme To doe an old man scorne.’
3 ‘I scorne thee not, old man,’ says Robin, ‘By the faith of my body; Doe of thy clothes, thou shalt haue mine, For it may noe better bee.’
4 But Robin did on this old mans hose, The were torne in the wrist; ‘When I looke on my leggs,’ said Robin, ‘Then for to laugh I list.’
5 But Robin did on the old mans shooes, And the were cliitt full cleane; ‘Now, by my faith,’ sayes Litle Iohn, ‘These are good for thornës keene.’
6 But Robin did on the old mans cloake, And it was torne in the necke; ‘Now, by my faith,’ said William Scarlett, ‘Heere shold be set a specke.’
7 But Robin did on this old mans hood, Itt gogled on his crowne; ‘When I come into Nottingham,’ said Robin, ‘My hood it will lightly downe.
8 ‘But yonder is an outwood,’ said Robin, ‘An outwood all and a shade, And thither I reede you, my merrymen all, The ready way to take.
9 ‘And when you heare my litle horne blow, Come raking all on a rowte . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
* * * * *
10 But Robin he lope, and Robin he threw, He lope over stocke and stone; But those that saw Ro_bin_ Hood run Said he was a liuer old man.
11 [Then Robin set his] horne to his mowth, A loud blast cold h[e] blow; Ffull three hundred bold yeomen Came rakinge all on a row.
12 But Robin cast downe his baggs of bread, Soe did he his staffe with a face, And in a doublet of red veluett This yeoman stood in his place.
13 ‘But bend yo_u_r bowes, and stroke yo_u_r strings, Set the gallow-tree aboute, And Christs cursse on his heart,’ said Robin, ‘That spares the sheriffe and the sergiant!’
14 When the sheriffe see gentle Robin wold shoote, He held vp both his hands; Sayes, Aske, good Robin, and thou shalt haue, Whether it be house or land.
15 ‘I will neither haue house nor land,’ said Ro_bin_, ‘Nor gold, nor none of thy ffee, But I will haue those three squires To the greene fforest w_i_th me.
16 ‘Now marry, Gods forbott,’ said the sheriffe, ‘That euer _tha_t shold bee; For why, they be the kings ffelons, They are all condemned to dye.’
17 ‘But grant me my askinge,’ said Robin, ‘Or by the faith of my body Thou shalt be the first man Shall flower this gallow-tree.’
18 ‘But I wi[ll haue t]hose three squires . . . . . . .
B
#a.# The English Archer, Robin Hood’s Garland, York, N. Nickson, n. d., p. 65. #b.# The English Archer, etc., Paisley, John Neilson, 1786. #c.# Adventures of Robin Hood, Falkirk, T. Johnston, 1808.
1 There are twelve months in all the year, As I hear many men say, But the merriest month in all the year Is the merry month of May.
2 Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone, With a link a down and a day, And there he met a silly old woman, Was weeping on the way.
3 ‘What news? what news, thou silly old woman? What news hast thou for me?’ Said she, There’s three squires in Nottingham town To-day is condemned to die.
4 ‘O have they parishes burnt?’ he said, ‘Or have they ministers slain? Or have they robbed any virgin, Or with other men’s wives have lain?’
5 ‘They have no parishes burnt, good sir, Nor yet have ministers slain, Nor have they robbed any virgin, Nor with other men’s wives have lain.’
6 ‘O what have they done?’ said bold Robin Hood, ‘I pray thee tell to me:’ ‘It’s for slaying of the king’s fallow deer, Bearing their long bows with thee.’
7 ‘Dost thou not mind, old woman,’ he said, ‘Since thou made me sup and dine? By the truth of my body,’ quoth bold Robin Hood, ‘You could not tell it in better time.’
8 Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone, With a link a down and a day, And there he met with a silly old palmer, Was walking along the highway.
9 ‘What news? what news, thou silly old man? What news, I do thee pray?’ Said he, Three squires in Nottingham town Are condemnd to die this day.
10 ‘Come change thy apparel with me, old man, Come change thy apparel for mine; Here is forty shillings in good silver, Go drink it in beer or wine.’
11 ‘O thine apparel is good,’ he said, ‘And mine is ragged and torn; Whereever you go, wherever you ride, Laugh neer an old man to scorn.’
12 ‘Come change thy apparel with me, old churl, Come change thy apparel with mine; Here are twenty pieces of good broad gold, Go feast thy brethren with wine.’
13 Then he put on the old man’s hat, It stood full high on the crown: ‘The first bold bargain that I come at, It shall make thee come down.’
14 Then he put on the old man’s cloak, Was patchd black, blew, and red; He thought no shame all the day long To wear the bags of bread.
15 Then he put on the old man’s breeks, Was patchd from ballup to side; ‘By the truth of my body,’ bold Robin can say, ‘This man lovd little pride.’
16 Then he put on the old man’s hose, Were patchd from knee to wrist; ‘By the truth of my body,’ said bold Robin Hood, ‘I’d laugh if I had any list.’
17 Then he put on the old man’s shoes, Were patchd both beneath and aboon; Then Robin Hood swore a solemn oath, It’s good habit that makes a man.
18 Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone, With a link a down and a down, And there he met with the proud sheriff, Was walking along the town.
19 ‘O save, O save, O sheriff,’ he said, ‘O save, and you may see! And what will you give to a silly old man To-day will your hangman be?’
20 ‘Some suits, some suits,’ the sheriff he said, ‘Some suits I’ll give to thee; Some suits, some suits, and pence thirteen To-day’s a hangman’s fee.’
21 Then Robin he turns him round about, And jumps from stock to stone; ‘By the truth of my body,’ the sheriff he said, ‘That’s well jumpt, thou nimble old man.’
22 ‘I was neer a hangman in all my life, Nor yet intends to trade; But curst be he,’ said bold Robin, ‘That first a hangman was made.
23 ‘I’ve a bag for meal, and a bag for malt, And a bag for barley and corn; A bag for bread, and a bag for beef, And a bag for my little small horn.
24 ‘I have a horn in my pocket, I got it from Robin Hood, And still when I set it to my mouth, For thee it blows little good.’
25 ‘O wind thy horn, thou proud fellow, Of thee I have no doubt; I wish that thou give such a blast Till both thy eyes fall out.’
26 The first loud blast that he did blow, He blew both loud and shrill; A hundred and fifty of Robin Hood’s men Came riding over the hill.
27 The next loud blast that he did give, He blew both loud and amain, And quickly sixty of Robin Hood’s men Came shining over the plain.
28 ‘O who are yon,’ the sheriff he said, ‘Come tripping over the lee?’ ‘The’re my attendants,’ brave Robin did say, ‘They’ll pay a visit to thee.’
29 They took the gallows from the slack, They set it in the glen, They hangd the proud sheriff on that, Releasd their own three men.
C
Robin Hood’s Garland. #a.# London, printed by W. & C. Dicey, in St. Mary Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, Cheapside, and sold at the Warehouse at Northampton, n. d.: p. 74, No 24. #b.# London, printed by L. How, in Peticoat Lane, n. d.: p. 23. #c.# York, T. Wilson and R. Spence, n. d.: p. 27. #d.# Preston, W. Sergent, n. d.: p. 62. #e.# London, printed and sold by J. Marshall & Co., Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, n. d.: No 24. #f.# Wolverhampton, printed and sold by J. Smart, n. d.
1 Bold Robin Hood ranging the forest all round, The forest all round ranged he; O there did he meet with a gay lady, She came weeping along the highway.
2 ‘Why weep you, why weep you?’ bold Robin he said, ‘What, weep you for gold or fee? Or do you weep for your maidenhead, That is taken from your body?’
3 ‘I weep not for gold,’ the lady replyed, ‘Neither do I weep for fee; Nor do I weep for my maidenhead, That is taken from my body.’
4 ‘What weep you for then?’ said jolly Robin, ‘I prithee come tell unto me;’ ‘Oh! I do weep for my three sons, For they are all condemned to die.’
5 ‘What church have they robbed?’ said jolly Robin, ‘Or parish-priest have they slain? What maids have they forced against their will? Or with other men’s wives have lain?’
6 ‘No church have they robbd,’ this lady replied, ‘Nor parish-priest have they slain; No maids have they forc’d against their will, Nor with other men’s wives have lain.’
7 ‘What have they done then?’ said jolly Robin, ‘Come tell me most speedily:’ ‘Oh! it is for killing the king’s fallow deer, And they are all condemned to die.’
8 ‘Get you home, get you home,’ said jolly Robin, ‘Get you home most speedily, And I will unto fair Nottingham go, For the sake of the squires all three.’
9 Then bold Robin Hood for Nottingham goes, For Nottingham town goes he, O there did he meet with a poor beggar-man, He came creeping along the highway.
10 ‘What news, what news, thou old beggar-man? What news, come tell unto me:’ ‘O there is weeping and wailing in fair Nottingham, For the death of the squires all three.’
11 This beggar-man had a coat on his back, ’Twas neither green, yellow, nor red; Bold Robin Hood thought ’twas no disgrace To be in a beggar-man’s stead.
12 ‘Come, pull off thy coat, you old beggar-man, And you shall put on mine; And forty good shillings I’ll give thee to boot, Besides brandy, good beer, ale and wine.’
13 Bold Robin Hood then unto Nottingham came, Unto Nottingham town came he; O there did he meet with great master sheriff, And likewise the squires all three.
14 ‘One boon, one boon,’ says jolly Robin, ‘One boon I beg on my knee; That, as for the deaths of these three squires, Their hangman I may be.’
15 ‘Soon granted, soon granted,’ says great master sheriff, ‘Soon granted unto thee; And you shall have all their gay cloathing, Aye, and all their white money.’
16 ‘O I will have none of their gay cloathing, Nor none of their white money, But I’ll have three blasts on my bugle-horn, That their souls to heaven may flee.’
17 Then Robin Hood mounted the gallows so high, Where he blew loud and shrill, Till an hundred and ten of Robin Hood’s men They came marching all down the green hill.
18 ‘Whose men are they all these?’ says great master sheriff, ‘Whose men are they? tell unto me:’ ‘O they are mine, but none of thine, And they’re come for the squires all three.’
19 ‘O take them, O take them,’ says great master sheriff, ‘O take them along with thee; For there’s never a man in all Nottingham Can do the like of thee.’
* * * * *
#A.#
1^3. 20[l :].
5^2. Only one of the i’s is dotted in cliit: Furnivall.
6^3. said w^m.
9^2. half a page wanting.
10 follows 12.
11^3. 300[d :].
15^3, 18^1. 3.
17^2. or be me.
18^1. half a page wanting.
#B. a.#
3^3. Knews.
4^1, 6^1, 11^1, 19^{1,2}, 25^1, 28^1. Oh.
8^2. and a down a.
12^1. chur.
15^1. Teen.
16^2. Where.
17^4. Itts.
24^4. For me.
28^1. are you.
#b.#
Robin Hood rescu’d the Widow’s three Sons from the Sheriff when going to be hanged.
#c.#
How Robin Hood rescued, etc., ... to be hanged.
#b#, #c#.
2^1. Hood wanting.
2^2. a down down.
2^3. met with.
2^4. along the highway.
3^2. to me.
3^4. To-day are.
5^2. Nor have they.
6^3. ’Tis for.
7^3. quoth wanting.
8^1. Robin he is.
8^2. a down down and a day.
8^3. old wanting.
9^1. silly palmer.
10^2. with for for.
10^3. of for in.
10^4. beer and good wine.
12^1. churl.
14^3. not for no.
14^4. the poor bags.
15^1. Then.
15^2. Were for Was.
15^3. did say.
16^2, 17^2. Were wanting.
17^2. both wanting.
17^4. ’Tis.
18^1. Robin is unto.
18^2. a down down and a day.
18^4. the highway.
19^2. you may you [may you?].
19^4. That to-day.
20^4. day is.
21^2. stone to stone.
22^1. never: in wanting.
23^2. And wanting.
24^1. a small horn now in.
24^2. it wanting.
24^4. For thee.
25^4. fly out.
26^3. An: Robin’s men.
27^3. Robin’s men.
28^1. are you.
28^2. Comes.
28^3. bold Robin.
29^4. And released.
#b.#
18^3. with wanting.
20^2. unto thee.
20^3. pence fourteen.
#c.#
6^2. unto me.
7^2. mad’st.
15^1. poor for old.
20^1. suits and pence fourteen.
20^{2,3}. wanting.
21^1. turnd.
21^2. jumpd.
22^2. the trade.
24^3. I put.
25^3. gave.
29^2. let for set.
#C.# #a.#
The Garland is not earlier, and probably not much later, than 1753, “The Arguments ... in the ... affair of Eliz. Canning ... robbed ... in Jan^y, 1753,” occurring in advertisements printed therewith.
16^1. of ther.
#b.#
5^4. have they.
6^4. have they.
11^4. in the.
12^4. beside.
16^3. buglee.
17^2. blew both.
18^3. are all.
19^4. That can.
#c.#
1^1. ranged.
3^1. this lady.
4^4. all wanting.
5^4. have they.
6^3. they have.
6^4. have they.
7^3. it’s all.
7^4. they’re.
8^3. will then to.
9^1. bold wanting: to for for.
11^2. It was.
11^2. or red.
11^3. it was.
11^4. in the.
12^1. thou old.
12^3. give you.
13^1. then to.
13^3. And there.
13^4. Aye and.
14^2. upon my.
14^3. the three.
15^1. great wanting.
15^2. Soon grant it I will unto thee.
15^4. Aye wanting.
16^1. I’ll.
16^3. of my.
17^2. blew both.
17^4. They wanting.
18^3. are all.
19^4. That can.
#d.#
1^3. he did.
3^2. I wanting.
6^2. No.
7^2. Come tell unto me speedily.
8^3. will for.
10^3. there’s: fair wanting.
11^4. in the.
12^1. thou old.
12^2. thou shalt.
15^1. great wanting.
17^1. When.
17^3. Hood’s wanting.
17^4. They wanting: all wanting.
18^1. all wanting: great wanting.
18^4. And are.
19^3. in fair.
#e.#
5^4. have they.
6^4. have they.
10^3. there’s: fair wanting.
11^4. in the.
12^1. thou old.
12^2. thou shalt.
14^3. death.
15^1. great wanting.
17^1. When.
17^4. They wanting: all wanting.
18^1. are they: great wanting.
18^2. come tell.
18^4. And are.
19^3. in fair.
#f.#
5^4. have they.
6^4. have they.
7^4. they’re.
10^3. there’s: fair wanting.
11^4. in the.
12^1. thou old.
12^2. thou shalt.
14^3. death.
15^1. great wanting.
17^1. When.
17^4. They wanting: all wanting.
18^1. are they: great wanting.
18^2. come tell.
18^4. And are come.
19^3. in fair.