B
a. The English Archer, Paisley, printed by John Neilson for George Caldwell, Bookseller, near the Cross, 1786, p. 81, No 24. b. The English Archer, York, printed by N. Nickson, in Feasegate, n. d., p. 70.
1
When Robin Hood and Little John
Down a down a down a down
Went oer yon bank of broom,
Said Robin Hood bold to Little John,
We have shot for many a pound.
Hey, etc.
2
But I am not able to shoot one shot more,
My broad arrows will not flee;
But I have a cousin lives down below,
Please God, she will bleed me.
3
Now Robin he is to fair Kirkly gone,
As fast as he can win;
But before he came there, as we do hear,
He was taken very ill.
4
And when he came to fair Kirkly-hall,
He knockd all at the ring,
But none was so ready as his cousin herself
For to let bold Robin in.
5
‘Will you please to sit down, cousin Robin,’ she said,
‘And drink some beer with me?’
‘No, I will neither eat nor drink,
Till I am blooded by thee.’
6
‘Well, I have a room, cousin Robin,’ she said,
‘Which you did never see,
And if you please to walk therein,
You blooded by me shall be.’
7
She took him by the lily-white hand,
And led him to a private room,
And there she blooded bold Robin Hood,
While one drop of blood would run down.
8
She blooded him in a vein of the arm,
And locked him up in the room;
Then did he bleed all the live-long day,
Until the next day at noon.
9
He then bethought him of a casement there,
Thinking for to get down;
But was so weak he could not leap,
He could not get him down.
10
He then bethought him of his bugle-horn,
Which hung low down to his knee;
He set his horn unto his mouth,
And blew out weak blasts three.
11
Then Little John, when hearing him,
As he sat under a tree,
‘I fear my master is now near dead,
He blows so wearily.’
12
Then Little John to fair Kirkly is gone,
As fast as he can dree;
But when he came to Kirkly-hall,
He broke locks two or three:
13
Until he came bold Robin to see,
Then he fell on his knee;
‘A boon, a boon,’ cries Little John,
‘Master, I beg of thee.’
14
‘What is that boon,’ said Robin Hood,
‘Little John, [thou] begs of me?’
‘It is to burn fair Kirkly-hall,
And all their nunnery.’
15
‘Now nay, now nay,’ quoth Robin Hood,
‘That boon I’ll not grant thee;
I never hurt woman in all my life,
Nor men in woman’s company.
16
‘I never hurt fair maid in all my time,
Nor at mine end shall it be;
But give me my bent bow in my hand,
And a broad arrow I’ll let flee;
And where this arrow is taken up,
There shall my grave digged be.
17
‘Lay me a green sod under my head,
And another at my feet;
And lay my bent bow by my side,
Which was my music sweet;
And make my grave of gravel and green,
Which is most right and meet.
18
‘Let me have length and breadth enough,
With a green sod under my head;
That they may say, when I am dead
Here lies bold Robin Hood.’
19
These words they readily granted him,
Which did bold Robin please:
And there they buried bold Robin Hood,
Within the fair Kirkleys.
A.
13. church Lees: cf. 113.
23. halfe 100d.
31. there is.
62. nor shoote.
71, 111. 2.
83, 182, 274. half a page gone.
121. church lees.
132. 20ty
:.
201. shop for shot.
203. grounding.
244. church lee.
B. a.
Robin Hood’s death and burial: shewing how he was taken ill, and how he went to his cousin at Kirkly-hall, in Yorkshire, who let him blood, which was the cause of his death. Tune of Robin Hood’s last farewel, etc.
22. fly.
153. burnt for hurt.
194. Kirkly.
The ballad, as Ritson says, “is made to conclude with some foolish lines (adopted from the London copy” of R. H. and the Valiant Knight) in order to introduce the epitaph.
20
Thus he that never feard bow nor spear
Was murderd by letting blood;
And so, loving friends, the story it ends
Of valiant Robin Hood.
21
There’s nothing remains but his epitaph now,
Which, reader, here you have,
To this very day which read you may,
As it is upon his grave.
Hey down a derry derry down
The epitaph, however, does not follow.
b.
Title as in a, omitting in Yorkshire and Tune of, etc. Printed in stanzas of two long lines. The burden is wanting.
12. over.
13. bold wanting.
22. broad wanting: flee.
31. he wanting.
32. coud wen.
41. when that.
42. knocked at.
54. I blood letted be.
64. You blood shall letted be.
72. let him into.
74. Whilst: down wanting.
81. in the vein.
82. in a.
83. There.
91. casement door.
92. to be gone.
94. Nor he: him wanting.
104. strong blasts.
112. under the.
113. now wanting.
122. he could.
131. see wanting.
141. quoth for said.
142. thou begs.
15. wanting.
161. neer.
162. at my.
164. my broad arrows.
171,2. To go with 163,4.
With verdant sods most neatly put,
Sweet as the green wood tree.
191. promisd him.
194. Near to: Kirkleys.
201. that feard neither.
203. it wanting.
204. valiant bold.
211. There is.
214. it was upon the.
After 19.
Kirkleys was beautiful of old,
Like Winifrid’s of Wales,
By whose fair well strange cures are told
In legendary tales.
Upon his grave was laid a stone,
Declaring that he dy’d,
And tho so many years ago,
Time can’t his actions hide.
At the end is the epitaph, wanting in a.
Robin Hood’s Epitaph, set on his tomb by the Prioress of Kirkley Monastry, in Yorkshire.
Robert Earl of Huntington
Lies under this little stone.
No archer was like him so good,
His wildness nam’d him Robin Hood.
Full thirteen years and something more
These no[r]thern parts he vexed sore:
Such out-laws as he and his men
May England never know again.
121
ROBIN HOOD AND THE POTTER
Library of the University of Cambridge, MS. E e. 4. 35, fol. 14 b, of about 1500.
Printed from the manuscript in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, I, 81; here from a transcript of the original, carefully revised by Rev. Professor Skeat.
Robin Hood sees a potter driving over the lea; the potter has been in the habit of passing that way, and never has paid toll. Little John has had a brush with the potter, and offers to lay forty shillings that no man can make him leave a pledge. Robin accepts the wager, stops the potter, and demands a “pledge”; the potter refuses to leave pledge or pay toll, takes a staff from his cart, knocks Robin’s buckler out of his hand, and, ere Robin can recover it, fells him with a blow in the neck. Robin owns that he has lost. The potter says it is no courtesy to stop a poor yeoman thus; Robin agrees heartily, and proposes fellowship, also to change clothes with the potter and sell his ware at Nottingham. The potter is willing; John warns his master to beware of the sheriff. Robin takes his stand near the sheriff’s gate, and offers his pots so cheap that soon there are but five left; these he sends as a gift to the sheriff’s wife, who in return asks him to dinner. While they are at their meal, two of the sheriff’s men talk of a shooting-match for forty shillings: this the potter says he will see, and after a good dinner goes with the rest to the butts. All the archers come half a bow’s length short of the mark; Robin, at his wish, gets a bow from the sheriff, and his first shot misses the mark by less than a foot, his second cleaves the central pin in three. The sheriff applauds; Robin says there is a bow in his cart which he had of Robin Hood. The sheriff wishes he could see Robin Hood, and the potter offers to gratify this wish on the morrow. They go back to the sheriff’s for the night, and early the next day set forth; the sheriff riding, the potter in his cart. When they come to the wood, the potter blows his horn, for so they shall know if Robin be near; the horn brings all Robin’s men. The sheriff would now give a hundred pound not to have had his wish; had he known his man at Nottingham, it would have been a thousand year ere the potter had come to the forest. I know that well, says Robin, and therefore shall you leave your horse with us, and your other gear. Were it not for your wife you would not come off so lightly. The sheriff goes home afoot, but with a white palfrey, which Robin presents to his wife. Have you brought Robin home? asks the dame. Devil speed him, answers her spouse, he has taken everything from me; all but this fair palfrey, which he has sent to thee. The merry dame laughs, and swears that the pots have been well paid for. Robin asks the potter how much his pots were worth, gives him ten pounds instead of the two nobles for which they could have been sold, and a welcome to the wood whenever he shall come that way.
The Play of Robin Hood, an imperfect copy of which is printed at the end of Copland’s and of White’s edition of The Gest, is founded on the ballads of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar and of Robin Hood and the Potter. The portion which is based on the ballad of Robin and the Potter is given in an appendix.
Robin Hood and the Butcher, No 122, repeats many of the incidents of the present ballad. The sheriff is enticed into the forest (by Little John instead of Robin Hood) in The Gest, 181 ff. This part of the story, in Robin Hood and the Butcher, is much more like that of The Gest than it is in Robin Hood and the Potter. We shall have only too many variations of the adventure in which Robin Hood unexpectedly meets his match in a hand-to-hand fight, now with a pinder, then with a tanner, tinker, shepherd, beggar, etc. His adversaries, after proving their mettle, are sometimes invited and induced to join his company: not so here. In some broadside ballads of this description, with an extravagance common enough in imitations, Robin Hood is very badly mauled, and made all but contemptible.[[97]] In Robin Hood and the Potter, Little John is willing to wager on the result of a trial, from his own experience. Will Scadlock is equally confident in Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, perhaps for the same reason, although this is not said. In Robin Hood and the Shepherd, Little John takes his turn after his master, and so with three of Robin’s men in Robin Hood and the Beggar, No 133.
Hereward the Saxon introduces himself into the Norman court as a potter, to obtain information of an attack which William the Conqueror was thought to intend on his stronghold at Ely: De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis, 24, in Michel, Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, II, 69, attributed to the twelfth century. Wallace, in like manner, to scout in the English camp: Blind Harry’s poem, ed. Moir, Book Six, v. 435 ff, p. 123 ff. This is also one of the many artifices by which Eustace the Monk deceives his enemy, the Count of Boulogne: Roman d’Eustache le Moine, ed. Michel, p. 39, v. 1071 ff, a poem of the thirteenth century. See, for Hereward and Eustace, T. Wright’s Essays on Subjects connected with the Literature, etc., of England in the Middle Ages, II, 108 ff, 135.
Disguise is the wonted and simplest expedient of an outlaw mixing among his foes, “wherein the pregnant enemy does much.” Fulk Fitz Warine takes the disguise of an old monk, a merchant, a charcoal-burner; Hereward, that of a potter, a fisherman; Eustace the Monk, of a potter, shepherd, pilgrim, charcoal-burner, woman, leper, carpenter, minstrel, etc.; Wallace, of a potter, pilgrim, woman (twice), etc., in Blind Harry’s poem, of a beggar in ballads; Robin Hood, of a potter, butcher, beggar, shepherd, an old woman, a fisherman (?), Guy of Gisborne.
Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 76.
1
In schomer, when the leves spryng,
The bloschoms on euery bowe,
So merey doyt the berdys syng
Yn wodys merey now.
2
Herkens, god yemen,
Comley, corteys, and god,
On of the best þat yeuer bare bowe,
Hes name was Roben Hode.
3
Roben Hood was the yeman’s name,
That was boyt corteys and ffre;
Ffor the loffe of owre ladey,
All wemen werschepyd he.
4
Bot as the god yeman stod on a day,
Among hes mery maney,
He was ware of a prowd potter,
Cam dryfyng owyr the ley.
5
‘Yonder comet a prod potter,’ seyde Roben,
‘That long hayt hantyd þis wey;
He was neuer so corteys a man
On peney of pawage to pay.’
6
‘Y met hem bot at Went-breg,’ seyde Lytyll John,
‘And therefore yeffell mot he the!
Seche thre strokes he me gafe,
Yet by my seydys cleffe þey.
7
‘Y ley forty shillings,’ seyde Lytyll John,
‘To pay het thes same day,
Ther ys nat a man among hus all
A wed schall make hem ley.’
8
‘Here ys forty shillings,’ seyde Roben,
‘More, and thow dar say,
Þat y schall make þat prowde potter,
A wed to me schall he ley.’
9
There thes money they leyde,
They toke het a yeman to kepe;
Roben beffore the potter he breyde,
A[nd] bad hem stond stell.
10
Handys apon hes hors he leyde,
And bad the potter stonde foll stell;
The potter schorteley to hem seyde,
Ffelow, what ys they well?
11
‘All thes thre yer, and more, potter,’ he seyde,
‘Thow hast hantyd thes wey,
Yet were tow neuer so cortys a man
On peney of pauage to pay.’
12
‘What ys they name,’ seyde þe potter,
‘Ffor pauage thow aske of me?’
‘Roben Hod ys mey name,
A wed schall thow leffe me.’
13
‘Wed well y non leffe,’ seyde þe potter,
‘Nor pavag well y non pay;
Awey they honde ffro mey hors!
Y well the tene eyls, be mey ffay.’
14
The potter to hes cart he went,
He was not to seke;
A god to-hande staffe þerowt he hent,
Beffore Roben he leppyd.
15
Roben howt with a swerd bent,
A bokeler en hes honde;
The potter to Roben he went,
And seyde, Ffelow, let mey hors go.
16
Togeder then went thes to yemen,
Het was a god seyt to se;
Thereof low Robyn hes men,
There they stod onder a tre.
17
Leytell John to hes ffelowhe seyde,
‘Yend potter well steffeley stonde:’
The potter, with a acward stroke,
Smot the bokeler owt of hes honde.
18
A[nd] ar Roben meyt get het agen
Hes bokeler at hes ffette,
The potter yn the neke hem toke,
To the gronde sone he yede.
19
That saw Roben hes men,
As thay stod onder a bow;
‘Let vs helpe owre master,’ seyde Lytell John,
‘Yonder potter,’ seyde he, ‘els well hem slo.’
20
Thes yemen went with a breyde,
To ther mast[er] they cam.
Leytell John to hes mast[er] seyde,
Ho haet the wager won?
21
‘Schall y haffe yowre forty shillings,’ seyde Lytl John,
‘Or ye, master, schall haffe myne?’
‘Yeff they were a hundred,’ seyde Roben,
‘Y ffeythe, they ben all theyne.’
22
‘Het ys fol leytell cortesey,’ seyde þe potter,
‘As y haffe harde weyse men saye,
Yeffe a pore yeman com drywyng on the wey,
To let hem of hes gorney.’
23
‘Be mey trowet, thow seys soyt,’ seyde Roben,
‘Thow seys god yeme[n]rey;
And thow dreyffe fforthe yeuery day,
Thow schalt neuer be let ffor me.
24
‘Y well prey the, god potter,
A ffelischepe well thow haffe?
Geffe me they clothyng, and þow schalt hafe myne;
Y well go to Notynggam.’
25
‘Y gra[n]t thereto,’ seyde the potter,
‘Thow schalt ffeynde me a ffelow gode;
Bot thow can sell mey pottys well,
Com ayen as thow yode.’
26
‘Nay, be mey trowt,’ seyde Roben,
‘And then y bescro mey hede,
Yeffe y bryng eny pottys ayen,
And eney weyffe well hem chepe.’
27
Than spake Leytell John,
And all hes ffelowhes heynd,
‘Master, be well ware of the screffe of Notynggam,
Ffor he ys leytell howr ffrende.’
28
‘Heyt war howte!’ seyde Roben,
‘Ffelowhes, let me a lone;
Thorow the helpe of Howr Ladey,
To Notynggam well y gon.’
29
Robyn went to Notynggam,
Thes pottys ffor to sell;
The potter abode with Robens men,
There he ffered not eylle.
30
Tho Roben droffe on hes wey,
So merey ower the londe:
Her es more, and affter ys to saye,
The best ys beheynde.
31
When Roben cam to Notynggam,
The soyt yef y scholde saye,
He set op hes hors anon,
And gaffe hem hotys and haye.
32
Yn the medys of the towne,
There he schowed hes ware;
‘Pottys! pottys!’ he gan crey foll sone,
‘Haffe hansell ffor the mare!’
33
Ffoll effen agenest the screffeys gate
Schowed he hes chaffare;
Weyffes and wedowes abowt hem drow,
And chepyd ffast of hes ware.
34
Yet, ‘Pottys, gret chepe!’ creyed Robyn,
‘Y loffe yeffell thes to stonde;’
And all that say hem sell
Seyde he had be no potter long.
35
The pottys that were werthe pens ffeyffe,
He solde tham ffor pens thre;
Preveley seyde man and weyffe,
‘Ywnder potter schall neuer the.’
36
Thos Roben solde ffoll ffast,
Tell he had pottys bot ffeyffe;
Op he hem toke of hes care,
And sende hem to the screffeys weyffe.
37
Thereof sche was ffoll ffayne,
‘Gereamarsey, ser,’ than seyde sche;
‘When ye com to thes contre ayen,
Y schall bey of the[y] pottys, so mot y the.’
38
‘Ye schall haffe of the best,’ seyde Roben,
And sware be the Treneytë;
Ffoll corteysley [sc]he gan hem call,
‘Com deyne with the screfe and me.’
39
‘God amarsey,’ seyde Roben,
‘Yowre bedyng schall be doyn;’
A mayden yn the pottys gan bere,
Roben and þe screffe weyffe ffolowed anon.
40
Whan Roben yn to the hall cam,
The screffë sone he met;
The potter cowed of corteysey,
And sone the screffe he gret.
41
‘Lo, ser, what thes potter hayt geffe yow and me;
Ffeyffe pottys smalle and grete!’
‘He ys ffoll wellcom,’ seyd the screffe;
‘Let os was, and go to mete.’
42
As they sat at her methe,
With a nobell chere,
To of the screffes men gan speke
Off a gret wager;
43
Off a schotyng, was god and ffeyne,
Was made the thother daye,
Off forty shillings, the soyt to saye,
Who scholde thes wager wen.
44
Styll than sat thes prowde potter,
Thos than thowt he;
As y am a trow cerstyn man,
Thes schotyng well y se.
45
Whan they had ffared of the best,
With bred and ale and weyne,
To the bottys the made them prest,
With bowes and boltys ffoll ffeyne.
46
The screffes men schot ffoll ffast,
As archares þat weren godde;
There cam non ner ney the marke
Bey halffe a god archares bowe.
47
Stell then stod the prowde potter,
Thos than seyde he;
And y had a bow, be the rode,
On schot scholde yow se.
48
‘Thow schall haffe a bow,’ seyde the screffe,
‘The best þat thow well cheys of thre;
Thou semyst a stalward and a stronge,
Asay schall thow be.’
49
The screffe commandyd a yeman þat stod hem bey
Affter bowhes to weynde;
The best bow þat the yeman browthe
Roben set on a stryng.
50
‘Now schall y wet and thow be god,
And polle het op to they nere;’
‘So god me helpe,’ seyde the prowde potter,
‘Þys ys bot rygȝt weke gere.’
51
To a quequer Roben went,
A god bolt owthe he toke;
So ney on to the marke he went,
He ffayled not a fothe.
52
All they schot abowthe agen,
The screffes men and he;
Off the marke he welde not ffayle,
He cleffed the preke on thre.
53
The screffes men thowt gret schame
The potter the mastry wan;
The screffë lowe and made god game,
And seyde, Potter, thow art a man.
54
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
Thow art worthey to bere a bowe
Yn what plas that þow goe.
55
‘Yn mey cart y haffe a bowe,
Ffor soyt,’ he seyde, ‘and that a godde;
Yn mey cart ys the bow
That gaffe me Robyn Hode.’
56
‘Knowest thow Robyn Hode?’ seyde the screffe,
‘Potter, y prey the tell thow me;’
‘A hundred torne y haffe schot with hem,
Vnder hes tortyll-tre.’
57
‘Y had leuer nar a hundred ponde,’ seyde þe screffe,
‘And sware be the Trenitë,
. . . . . . .
Þat the ffals outelawe stod be me.’
58
‘And ye well do afftyr mey red,’ seyde þe potter,
‘And boldeley go with me,
And to morow, or we het bred,
Roben Hode well we se.’
59
‘Y wel queyt the,’ kod the screffe,
‘Y swere be God of meythe;’
Schetyng thay left, and hom þey went,
Her soper was reddy deythe.
60
Vpon the morow, when het was day,
He boskyd hem fforthe to reyde;
The potter hes cart fforthe gan ray,
And wolde not leffe beheynde.
61
He toke leffe of the screffys wyffe,
And thankyd her of all thyng:
‘Dam, ffor mey loffe and ye well þys were,
Y geffe yow here a golde ryng.’
62
‘Gramarsey,’ seyde the weyffe,
‘Ser, god eylde het the;’
The screffes hart was neuer so leythe,
The ffeyre fforeyst to se.
63
And when he cam yn to the fforeyst,
Yonder the leffes grene,
Berdys there sange on bowhes prest,
Het was gret goy to se.
64
‘Here het ys merey to be,’ seyde Roben,
‘Ffor a man that had hawt to spende;
Be mey horne I schall awet
Yeff Roben Hode be here.’
65
Roben set hes horne to hes mowthe,
And blow a blast þat was ffoll god;
Þat herde hes men þat þere stode,
Ffer downe yn the wodde.
66
‘I her mey master blow,’ seyde Leytell John,
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
They ran as thay were wode.
67
Whan thay to thar master cam,
Leytell John wold not spare;
‘Master, how haffe yow ffare yn Notynggam?
How haffe yow solde yowre ware?’
68
‘Ye, be mey trowthe, Leyty[ll] John,
Loke thow take no care;
Y haffe browt the screffe of Notynggam,
Ffor all howre chaffare.’
69
‘He ys ffoll wellcom,’ seyde Lytyll John,
‘Thes tydyng ys ffoll godde;
The screffe had leuer nar a hundred ponde
He had [neuer sene Roben Hode.]
70
‘[Had I] west þat befforen,
At Notynggam when we were,
Thow scholde not com yn ffeyre fforest
Of all thes thowsande eyre.’
71
‘That wot y well,’ seyde Roben,
‘Y thanke God that ye be here;
Thereffore schall ye leffe yowre hors with hos,
And all yowre hother gere.’
72
‘That ffend I Godys fforbod,’ kod the screffe,
‘So to lese mey godde;
. . . . . . .
. . . . . .
73
‘Hether ye cam on hors ffoll hey,
And hom schall ye go on ffote;
And gret well they weyffe at home,
The woman ys ffoll godde.
74
‘Y schall her sende a wheyt palffrey,
Het ambellet be mey ffey,
. . . . . . .
. . . . . .
75
‘Y schall her sende a wheyt palffrey,
Het hambellet as the weynde;
Nere ffor the loffe of yowre weyffe,
Off more sorow scholde yow seyng.’
76
Thes parted Robyn Hode and the screffe;
To Notynggam he toke the waye;
Hes weyffe ffeyre welcomed hem hom,
And to hem gan sche saye:
77
Seyr, how haffe yow ffared yn grene fforeyst?
Haffe ye browt Roben hom?
‘Dam, the deyell spede hem, bothe bodey and bon;
Y haffe hade a ffoll gret skorne.
78
‘Of all the god that y haffe lade to grene wod,
He hayt take het ffro me;
All bot thes ffeyre palffrey,
That he hayt sende to the.’
79
With þat sche toke op a lowde lawhyng,
And swhare be hem þat deyed on tre,
‘Now haffe yow payed ffor all þe pottys
That Roben gaffe to me.
80
‘Now ye be com hom to Notynggam,
Ye schall haffe god ynowe;’
Now speke we of Roben Hode,
And of the pottyr ondyr the grene bowhe.
81
‘Potter, what was they pottys worthe
To Notynggam þat y ledde with me?’
‘They wer worthe to nobellys,’ seyde he,
‘So mot y treyffe or the;
So cowde y [haffe] had ffor tham,
And y had there be.’
82
‘Thow schalt hafe ten ponde,’ seyde Roben,
‘Of money ffeyre and ffre;
And yeuer whan thow comest to grene wod,
Wellcom, potter, to me.’
83
Thes partyd Robyn, the screffe, and the potter,
Ondernethe the grene-wod tre;
God haffe mersey on Roben Hodys solle,
And saffe all god yemanrey!
22. cortessey.
34. werschep ye.
44. the lefe.
51, 61. syde.
63. Seche iij.
64. þey cleffe by my seydys.
71, 81, 211, 433. xl s’.
73. hys all.
74. hem leffe.
111. thes iij.
114. I peney.
142. And teke at the beginning of the line struck through.
161. thes ij.
171. ffelow he seyde.
173. a caward.
192. onder or ender.
194. hels: sclo.
201. went yemen.
202. To thes.
213, 563, 571. a c.
25. st. 29 is wrongly put here.
254. yede.
272. ffelow hes.
28. The order of the lines is 3, 2, 1, 4.
303. Heres.
351. pens v.
352. pens iij. d.
362. bot v.
372. Gere amarsey seyde sche than, with a character after sche which is probably an abbreviation for ser, as in 622.
414. to to.
421. methe.
423. ij of.
433. xl s.
453. the pottys.
454. bolt yt.
482. of iij.
483. senyst.
484. A say.
502. And [thow]? The ll in polle is crossed; potte may have been intended by the writer.
524. on iij.
541,2. No blank here, and none at 573, 662,3, 723,4, 743,4.
553,4. Yn mey cart ys the bow þat Robyn gaffe me.
563. A c.
571, 693. a c.
592. & swere: meythey.
594. scoper.
643. he schall.
681. I leyty.
694, 701. He had west þat be fforen.
741,2. Ought perhaps to be dropped. The writer, having got the second verse wrong, may have begun the stanza again.
803. After this line is repeated, Ye schall haffe god ynowhe.
804. bowhes.
813. worthe ij.
816. be there.
82. hafe x li.
Expleycyt Robynhode.
A bowt, a non, be heynde, etc. are joined. And for & throughout. Some terminal curls rendered with e were, perhaps, mere tricks of writing; as marks over final m, n, in cam, on, yemen, etc., crossed double l in all, etc., a curled n in Roben, have been assumed to be.
APPENDIX
THE PLAYE OF ROBYN HODE (vv. 121 ff.)
As printed by Copland, at the end of his edition of the Gest, with a few corrections from White’s edition, 1634: Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 199. I have not thought it necessary to collate Ritson’s reprint with Copland. The collations with White here are made with the undated copy in the Bodleian Library, Z. 3. Art. Seld.
ROBYN HODE
Lysten, to [me], my mery men all,
v. 121
And harke what I shall say;
Of an adventure I shall you tell,
That befell this other daye.
With a proude potter I met,
And a rose-garlande on his head,
The floures of it shone marvaylous freshe;
This seven yere and more he hath used this waye,
Yet was he never so curteyse a potter
As one peny passage to paye.
130
Is there any of my mery men all
That dare be so bolde
To make the potter paie passage,
Either silver or golde?
LYTELL JOHN
Not I master, for twenty pound redy tolde.
135
For there is not among us al one
That dare medle with that potter, man for man.
I felt his handes not long agone,
But I had lever have ben here by the;
Therfore I knowe what he is.
140
Mete him when ye wil, or mete him whan ye shal,
He is as propre a man as ever you medle[d] withal.
ROBYN HODE
I will lai with the, Litel John, twenti pound so read,
If I wyth that potter mete,
I wil make him pay passage, maugre his head.
145
LYTTEL JOHN
I consente therto, so eate I bread;
If he pay passage, maugre his head,
Twenti pound shall ye have of me for your mede.
THE POTTERS BOY JACKE
Out alas, that ever I sawe this daye!
For I am clene out of my waye
150
From Notyngham towne;
If I hye me not the faster,
Or I come there the market wel be done.
ROBYN HODE
Let me se, are the pottes hole and sounde?
JACKE
Yea, meister, but they will not breake the ground.
155
ROBYN HODE
I wil them breke, for the cuckold thi maisters sake;
And if they will breake the grounde,
Thou shalt have thre pence for a pound.
JACKE
Out alas! what have ye done?
If my maister come, he will breke your crown.
160
THE POTTER
Why, thou horeson, art thou here yet?
Thou shouldest have bene at market.
JACKE
I met with Robin Hode, a good yeman;
He hath broken my pottes,
And called you kuckolde by your name.
165
THE POTTER
Thou mayst be a gentylman, so God me save,
But thou semest a noughty knave.
Thou callest me cuckolde by my name,
And I swere by God and Saynt John,
Wyfe had I never none:
170
This cannot I denye.
But if thou be a good felowe,
I wil sel mi horse, mi harneis, pottes and paniers to,
Thou shalt have the one halfe, and I will have the other.
If thou be not so content,
175
Thou shalt have stripes, if thou were my brother.
ROBYN HODE
Harke, potter, what I shall say:
This seven yere and more thou hast used this way,
Yet were thou never so curteous to me
As one penny passage to paye.
180
THE POTTER
Why should I pay passage to thee?
ROBYN HODE
For I am Robyn Hode, chiefe gouernoure
Under the grene-woode tree.
THE POTTER
This seven yere have I used this way up and downe,
Yet payed I passage to no man,
185
Nor now I wyl not beginne, to do the worst thou can.
ROBYN HODE
Passage shalt thou pai here under the grene-wode tre,
Or els thou shalt leve a wedde with me.
THE POTTER
If thou be a good felowe, as men do the call,
Laye awaye thy bowe,
190
And take thy sword and buckeler in thy hande,
And se what shall befall.
ROBIN HODE
Lyttle John, where art thou?
LYTTEL [JOHN]
Here, mayster, I make God avowe.
I tolde you, mayster, so God me save,
195
That you shoulde fynde the potter a knave.
Holde your buckeler faste in your hande,
And I wyll styfly by you stande,
Ready for to fyghte;
Be the knave never so stoute,
200
I shall rappe him on the snoute,
And put hym to flyghte.
The rest is wanting.
121. to [me], wanting in White.
142. medled, W.
153. maryet.
154. the, C.; thy, W.
186. to do: to wanting in W.
188. wedded, C.; wed, W.
196. your, C.; you, W.
122
ROBIN HOOD AND THE BUTCHER
A. ‘Robin Hood and the Butcher,’ Percy MS., p. 7; Hales and Furnivall, I, 19.
B. ‘Robin Hood and the Butcher.’ a. Wood, 401, 19 b. b. Garland of 1663, No 6. c. Garland of 1670, No 5. d. Pepys, II, 102, No 89.
Other copies, of the second class, are in the Roxburghe collection, III, 259, and the Douce collection, III, 114. B a was printed, with changes, by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 23; a copy resembling the Douce by Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 106.
The story is a variation of Robin Hood and the Potter. According to A, the sheriff of Nottingham has resolved to have Robin’s head. A butcher is driving through the forest, and his dog flies at Robin, for which Robin kills the dog. The butcher undertakes to let a little of the yeoman’s blood for this, and there is a bout between staff and sword, in which we know that the butcher must bear himself well, though just here the first of three considerable gaps occurs. Robin buys the butcher’s stock, changes clothes with him, and goes to Nottingham to market his flesh. There he takes up his lodging at the sheriff’s, having perhaps conciliated the sheriff’s wife with the present of a fine joint. He sells at so low a rate that his stock is all gone before any one else has sold a bit. The butchers ask him to drink, and Robin makes an appointment with them at the sheriff’s. A second gap deprives us of the knowledge of what passes here, but we infer that, as in B, Robin is so reckless of his money that the sheriff thinks he can make a good bargain in horned beasts with him. Robin is ready; we see that he has come with a well-formed plan. The next day the sheriff goes to view the livestock, and is taken into the depth of the forest; it turns out that the wild deer are the butcher’s horned beasts. Robin’s men come in at the sound of his horn; the sheriff is lightened of all his money, and is told that his head is spared only for his wife’s sake. All this the sheriff tells his wife, on his return, and she replies that he has been served rightly for not tarrying at home, as she had begged him to do. The sheriff says he has learned wisdom, and will meddle no more with Robin Hood.
B a omits the brush between Robin and the butcher, mostly wanting, indeed, in A also, but only because of the damage which the manuscript has suffered.
The passage in which the sheriff is inveigled into Robin’s haunts has, as already mentioned, close affinity with the Gest, 181 ff.
The first three stanzas of A would not be missed, and apparently belong to some other ballad.[[98]]
B a is signed T. R., as is also Robin Hood and the Beggar in two editions, and these we may suppose to be the initials of the person who wrote the story over with middle rhyme in the third line of the stanza, a peculiarity which distinguishes a group of ballads which were sung to the tune of Robin Hood and the Stranger: see Robin Hood and Little John, No 125, and also No 128.