B - The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 3 (of 5) - 25

B

Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 392, from an Irish garland, printed at Monaghan, 1796.

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.

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.

‘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.’

‘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.

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.

‘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.’

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.

For the printer, etc., see No 128, Robin Hood newly Revived.

1³. trid.

1⁴. rigth.

4³, 5³. qd.

1³. tri’d.

3¹. or for nor.

4³. case.

4³, 5³. qd.

4³. case.

2¹. met with was a bold.

2³. qd.

4³. 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.

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.

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?

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.

‘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.’

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

‘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.’

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Robin Hood and the Ranger, or True Friendship after a fierce Fight. Tune of Arthur a Bland.

2⁴. whether.

8³. he’ll.

12¹. a very hard blow.

2⁴. whither.

6². are all.

11². the other.

12¹. very hard blows.

14². any one.

15². thou hast.

18². And wanting.

23⁴. They would.

Burden: With a hey down down down and a down.

2⁴. whither.

5³. methink’.

6². deers.

8³. he’d.

10¹. soon recoverd.

10². to wanting.

10³. they broke.

12¹. very hard blows.

12⁴. this combat.

13⁴. He cry’d.

14⁴. And live.

16². blast then.

19². a wanting.

21². with the.

Tune of, etc. wanting. Burden wanting.

1¹. the circles.

1³. he wanting: ramble away.

2⁴. whither.

5². arrows here I’ve.

5⁴. then I.

6². so is.

7¹. he wanting.

8¹. he had.

8³. he’d.

9¹. that wanting.

9³. his head.

10¹. soon recoverd.

10³. they broke.

12¹. he wanting: many hard blows.

13⁴. He cry’d.

16¹. Then wanting: Hood set his bugle horn.

16². blast then.

16³. and soon.

16⁴. An.

17³. rest was.

18¹. said bold.

18⁴. I’ll.

20³. the whole.

21². with the.

21³. beer and.

21⁴. take of the.

22². a wanting.

23⁴. They would.

Burden: With a hey down down derry down: or Hey down derry derry down.

1¹. circle.

1³. he wanting: ramble away.

2³. he did.

2⁴. whither.

3¹. quoth Robin wanting.

3³. ere.

5². here wanting.

6². so is.

7¹. he wanting.

8². neer.

8³. he’d.

8⁴. thus wanting.

9³. his head.

10¹. soon recovered.

10³. they broke.

11¹. then wanting.

12¹. many hard blows.

13⁴. He cry’d.

15⁴. whole wanting.

16¹. set his brave.

16². blast then.

16³. and soon.

16⁴. An.

18¹. said bold.

18³. and a bow.

18⁴. I’ll.

20¹. were in.

20³. the whole.

21². with the.

22². a wanting.

1¹. ickles of ice.

1³. would frolicksome be.

1⁴. And ramble about with his bow.

2⁴. whither.

8¹. Hood wanting.

8³. he’d.

10¹. recovered.

10³. they broke.

10⁴. Yet neither of them were slain.

11². the other.

12¹. very hard blows.

12⁴. this combat.

13⁴. He cry’d.

14¹. And live.

18¹. said bold.

19⁴. a good.

21². As when.

21³. 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.

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

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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.

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!

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.

‘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.’

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!

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.’

‘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.

‘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.’

‘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?’

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.

3¹, 5¹, 5². 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,’ 16³, looks very like a reminiscence of Robin Hood and the Bishop, 10³, ‘Thy spindle and twine unto me resign.’[^[112]]

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.

In elder times, when merriment was,

And archery was holden good,

There was an outlaw, as many did know,

Which men called Robin Hood.

Vpon a time it chanced so

Bold Robin was merry disposed,

His time to spend he did intend,

Either with friends or foes.

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.

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.

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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.

‘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.

And fighting there full hard and sore,

Not far from Nottingham town,

They never fled, till from Robinś head

The blood came trickling down.

‘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.’

‘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.’

When Robin Hood had got the beggars clothes,

He looked round about;

‘Methinks,’ said he, ‘I seem to be

A beggar brave and stout.

‘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.

‘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.

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.

As Robin he passed the streets along,

He heard a pittifull cry;

Three brethren deer, as he did hear,

Condemned were to dye.

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.

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?’

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.’

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.

‘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.’

Then they shot east, and they shot west;

Their arrows were so keen

The sheriffe he, and his companie,

No longer must be seen.

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.

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.

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.

1¹. light in all: a corruption of lyth.

2². archrey.

3⁴. friend or foe: cf. b, c.

4². angell.

6¹. had one.

10¹. tell the.

12¹. saffe.

21³. brethred.

27⁴. dow.

31⁴. 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.

3⁴. friends or foes.

4². angels.

7¹. Hood then.

7². unto.

8³. he wanting.

9³. doth know.

10². with thee.

10⁴. lay.

16¹. said for cri’d.

20¹. he wanting.

21⁴. was for to.

22¹. sheriffs house.

27². he wanting.

30². them had.

3⁴. friends or foes.

4². angels.

7¹. Hood then.

7². unto.

8³. living.

10². with thee.

19⁴. known for behind.

21⁴. for to.

22¹. sheriffs house.

25³. they hanged.

27². he wanting.

30². them had.

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.

3². merrily.

3⁴. friend or foe.

4². angels.

5¹. brave for fair.

7¹. Hood then.

7². unto.

10². with thee.

11¹. he said.

12¹. muckle.

12⁴. But he.

13³. Robin gave.

14³. Robin Hood’s head.

15³. If it.

17¹. Hood wanting.

17³. Methink.

18³. for mault: for salt.

19⁴. In the. house wanting, as in a.

22³. and he leapt.

23⁴. is’t: would’st.

25⁴. of the.

26³. O wanting: Robin Hood.

27⁴. down on their.

28². here wanting.

29¹. east then.

30². has.

30³. many men.

31¹. And wanting.

31³. 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.

Lyth and listen, gentlemen,

That’s come of high born blood;

I’ll tell you of a brave booting

That befel Robin Hood.

Robin Hood upon a day,

He went forth him alone,

And as he came from Barnesdale

Into a fair evening,

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.

A clouted cloak about him was,

That held him from the cold;

The thinnest bit of it, I guess,

Was more than twenty fold.

His meal-pock hang about his neck,

Into a leathern fang,

Well fastened with a broad buckle,

That was both stark and strang.

He had three hats upon his head,

Together sticked fast;

He cared neither for wind nor weet,

In lands wherever he past.

Good Robin coost him in his way,

To see what he might be;

If any beggar had money,

He thought some part had he.

‘Tarry, tarry,’ good Robin says,

‘Tarry, and speak with me;’

He heard him as he heard [him] not,

And fast his way can hie.

‘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.

‘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.’

‘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;

‘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.

‘Sir, thou must lend me some money,

Till we two meet again:’

The beggar answerd cankerdly,

I have no money to lend.

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.

‘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.

‘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.

‘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.’

The beggar smil’d, and answer made:

Far better let me be;

Think not that I will be afraid

For thy nip crooked tree.

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.

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.

Good Robin bent his noble bow—

He was an angry man—

And in it set a broad arrow;

Yet er ’twas drawn a span,

The beggar, with his noble tree,

Reacht him so round a rout

That his bow and his broad arrow

In flinders flew about.

Good Robin bound him to his brand,

But that provd likewise vain;

The beggar lighted on his hand

With his pike-staff again.

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.

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.

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.

‘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.

‘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.’

Good Robin answerd never a word,

But lay still as a stane;

His cheeks were white as any clay,

And closed were his eyne.

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.

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.

Up have they taken good Robin,

Making a piteous bier,

Yet saw they no man there at whom

They might the matter spear.

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.

Cold water they have taken syne,

And cast into his face;

Then he began to lift his eyne,

And spake within short space.

‘Tell us, dear master,’ says his men,

‘How with you stands the case?’

Good Robin sighd ere he began

To tell of his disgrace.

‘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.

‘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.

‘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.

‘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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘Be ye not feard, our good master,

That we two can be dung

With any blutter base beggar,

That hath nought but a rung.

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.

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.

The young men knew the country well,

So soon where he would be,

And they have taken another way,

Was nearer by miles three.

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,

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.

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.

And as he was betwixt them past,

They leapt upon him baith;

The one his pike-staff gripped fast,

They feared for its scaith.

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.

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.

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.

He wist not wherefore he was tane,

Nor how many was there;

He thought his life-days had been gone,

And grew into despair.

‘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.

‘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.’

‘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.

‘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.’

The beggar then thought all was wrong;

They were set for his wrack;

He saw nothing appearing then

But ill upon worse back.

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.

Then he bethought him on a wile,

If it could take effect,

How he the young men might beguile,

And give them a begeck.

Thus for to do them shame or ill

His beastly breast was bent;

He found the wind grew something shril,

To further his intent.

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.

It was but in my own defence,

If he hath gotten skaith;

But I will make a recompence,

Much better for you baith.

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,

That I have gathered these many years,

Under this clouted cloak,

And hid up wonder privately,

In bottom of my pock.

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.

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.

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.

They said, False carl, soon have done

And tell forth that money;

For the ill turn thou hast done

’Tis but a simple fee.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In every hand he took a nook

Of that great leathern meal,

And with a fling the meal he shook

Into their faces hail.

Wherewith he blinded them so close

A stime they could not see;

And then in heart he did rejoice,

And clapt his lusty tree.

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.

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.

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.

‘What ails this haste?’ the beggar said,

‘May ye not tarry still,

Until your money be receivd?

I’ll pay you with good will.

‘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.’

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.

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.

Good Robin speard how they had sped;

They answerd him, Full ill;

‘That cannot be,’ good Robin says;

‘Ye have been at the mill.

‘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.’

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.

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.

And then they told him to an end,

As I have said before,

How that the beggar did them blind,

What misters process more.

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.

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.

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.

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.

22³. arrows.

30¹. but sail: that is, but ſail.

38³. you for your.

41². ill a case: which perhaps should be retained.

46¹. and for with.

46⁴. the eild.

48³. a another.

51⁴. fate: b, late, that is, let.

53³. quite.

65⁴. fly: b, flee.

77³. sling: that is, ſling.

79³. strick.

89². where and.

In stanzas of two long lines.

Some of these readings may be Ritson’s corrections.

1². That be.

2⁴. a wanting.

3². Who for That.

4². frae the.

5². whang.

5³. to a.

7¹. cast.

8³. heard him not.

8⁴. on his.

9¹. ’Tis be.

9³. said.

11³. shares well.

11⁴. dost not care.

12¹. all this.

12³. would I.

13¹. you must.

13². two wanting.

14¹. art a.

15². asembled.

15³. has.

16¹. Come lay.

17³. if wanting.

20⁴. Wouldst: it wanting.

21⁴. Lo eer.

22³. arrow.

24^2,4. mair, sair.

25³. ſlaps.

26². baiſt.

26³. laid on loud for still on laid.

27¹. Fy wanting.

27³. still till: money told.

28⁴. hast been at the.

29³. pale for white.

30¹. but fail.

30². his way.

30³. ye.

31². by the.

31⁴. where that he lay.

33². wound.

34¹. gotten for taken.

34². unto.

34³. to hitch his ear.

34⁴. speak.

35¹. said.

36². this twenty.

36⁴. ye.

37². Of whom.

37³. with his.

37⁴. ‘twill.

38¹. out wanting.

38³. eer ye.

40⁴. escape.

41². ill at ease.

42³. And he.

43¹. ye, good wanting.

43⁴. has.

44⁵. ye.

45³. hands lay.

45⁴. Ye.

46¹. with his.

46⁴. his eild.

47³. no wanting.

47⁴. Then he.

48^1,2. wanting.

49¹. They stoutly.

49³. They started at neither how nor height.

50². cast them.

51². In each.

51³. them nigh.

51⁴. thought of no such late.

54³. let it.

54⁴. An better might it been.

55². any for one.

56¹. Nor wist he.

56⁴. He for And.

57². on the.

57³. And hold.

57⁴. Or else.

58². Neither by late or air.

58³. You have great sin if you would.

59². For all.

59⁴. Of one that eer.

60¹. shall.

62³. led back.

63³. he might the young men.

63⁴. gave them a begack.

64¹. for wanting: for ill.

64³. blew for grew.

65². a poor.

65⁴. flee.

66². has.

66⁴. Is better.

67¹. fair and.

67². no more dear.

67⁴. odd for good.

68¹. this.

69¹. to the.

69³. full well.

70³. And yet: not take.

70⁴. that place.

71³. for wanting.

72². forth thy.

72³. turn that.

72⁴. It’s: plee for fee.

74³. lay he.

75¹. half, that is, half.

76¹. this cloak: set it.

76³. bound.

77². bag for meal.

77³. fling.

77⁴. face all hail.

79². cloath.

79³. strike.

80¹. Eer any of.

80². Or a glimmering might.

80⁴. with his.

81². boldly bound.

82¹. What’s all this.

82². May not thou.

83⁴. Can ripe.

85². in vain.

87¹. meat rife part.

87³. at the.

87⁴. at your.

88¹. they drooped.

88³. a sound.

88⁴. ye.

89¹. less or.

89². what and.

90¹. And when.

90⁴. presses for process.

91^1,2. wanting.

91³. woods.

92². were baste.

93². 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 12²–15⁴, 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.

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.

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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.’

‘I am content, thou shepherd-swain,

Fling them down on the ground;

But it will breed thee mickle pain,

To win my twenty pound.’

‘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.’

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.

Robins buckler proved his chief defence,

And saved him many a bang,

For every blow the Shepherd gave

Made Robins sword cry twang.

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.

‘Arise, arise, thou proud fellow,

And thou shalt have fair play,

If thou wilt yield, before thou go,

That I have won the day.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

Then Robin set his horn to his mouth,

And he blew with mickle main,

Until he espied Little John

Come tripping over the plain.

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.’

The Shepherd gave John a sturdy blow,

With his hook under the chin;

‘Beshrew thy heart,’ said Little John,

‘Thou basely dost begin.’

‘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.

‘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.’

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.’

‘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.’

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.

Burden: a third a down is not printed after the first line, but is after the last.

4³. hast thou.

5⁴. thy wo.

7². Gome.

20⁴. Eihter.

26². Sheherd.

Burden: Down a down a down a down.

After 9¹, 21⁴, With a, &c.

1³. bold for brave.

4³. thou hast.

5³. tast.

5⁴. thee for thy.

7¹. bold wanting.

7³. pound.

10². standst.

12¹. chiefest.

13³. tickling.

16¹. Then said the Shepherd to bold Robin.

16². wanting.

17¹. Robin he.

18³. Little wanting.

19³. is very bad, cries.

26¹. Again the Shepherd laid on him.

26⁴. And wanting: I will.

27⁴. I did never.

28⁴. was never known.

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.

1³. bold for brave.

4³. thou hast.

5⁴. my wo.

8¹. amaze.

11³. four till ten.

12¹. chiefest.

13⁴. And then.

16¹. wanting.

19³. cries for saies.

19⁴. hath beaten.

22³. ile know saith.

22⁴. flee.

25¹. doest.

26¹. wanting.

26². began.

26⁴. And wanting: I will.

27³. Shepheards.

27⁴. I did never.

Title as in a, b.

Printed for William Thackeray, at the Angel in Duck Lane. (1689.)

Burden: Down a down down.

1³. bold for brave.

2³. he was.

4³. hast thou, as in a.

5¹. that for which.

5⁴. thy woe, as in a.

6¹. Tut wanting.

7¹. bold wanting.

7³. pound.

10². standest.

11¹. hard.

12¹. chiefest.

15³. beagle.

16¹. Then said the Shepherd to bold Robin.

16². To that will I agree.

16⁴. flee.

17¹. he set.

17². with might and main.

18³. Little wanting.

19³. bad cries.

21². shall never.

21³. at thy.

22⁴. flee.

24³. thy for thee.

26¹. Again the Shepherd laid on him.

26². began.

26³. Hood wanting.

26⁴. And wanting: I will.

27⁴. I did never.

28⁴. 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.

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

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.

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.

And as they walked the forest along,

Upon a midsummer day,

There was they aware of three keepers,

Clade all in green aray.

With brave long faucheons by their sides,

And forest-bills in hand,

They calld aloud to those bold outlaws,

And charged them to stand.

‘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.’

‘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.

‘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.’

‘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?’

‘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.’

‘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.

‘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.

‘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.’

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.

There Robin, and Will, and Little John,

They fought most manfully,

Till all their winde was spent and gone,

Then Robin aloud did cry:

‘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.’

‘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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.

‘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

‘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.’

So away they went to Nottingham,

With sack to make amends;

For three dayes space they wine did chase,

And drank themselves good friends.

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.

1². b, yeomen.

1³, 13¹. Scarlet.

2¹. it is.

2³. And many.

4³. was he: c, forresters for keepers.

5¹. side.

5². c, forrests bils.

5³. c, bold wanting.

7¹. b, bold Robin, Hood wanting: c, said Robin Hood.

7². b, it wanting: c, that wanting.

10⁴. met.

11³. do wanting.

11⁴. b. wee’l.

16¹. c. thy hand cryes.

17¹. is.

19³. c. in that.

19⁴. b. I will.

20³. thou wilt.

23¹. hereafter.

Title as in b, c, except: fought against.

Printed for William Thackeray, at the Angel in Duck Lane. (1689.)

1¹. There’s.

1². yeomen.

1³, 13¹. Scarlet.

2³. And many.

4³. forresters for keepers.

5³. bold wanting.

6². speak.

7¹. said.

7². that wanting.

7³. the wanting: in for of.

8¹. Come wanting.

9². you wanting.

9³. we of you be.

10¹. the for three.

10³. we’l: to wanting.

11³. first we, do wanting.

14¹. hardy.

15³. spend.

16³. with my beagle.

17¹. is.

17³. Thy blast: beagle.

18³. never shall: we are.

20³. thou wilt.

23¹. hereafter.

23³. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

‘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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.

‘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.’

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.

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.

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.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

‘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.’

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.

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.

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.

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.

‘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.’

‘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.

‘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.

‘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.’

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

The youngster was clothed in scarlet red,

In scarlet fine and gay,

And he did frisk it over the plain,

And chanted a roundelay.

As Robin Hood next morning stood,

Amongst the leaves so gay,

There did he espy the same young man

Come drooping along the way.

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!’

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.

‘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.’

And when he came bold Robin before,

Robin askt him courteously,

O hast thou any money to spare

For my merry men and me?

‘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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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?’

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

With that came in a wealthy knight,

Which was both grave and old,

And after him a finikin lass,

Did shine like glistering gold.

‘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.’

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.

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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.’

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.

‘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.

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.

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.)

11⁴. Alllin.

18¹. wealhty.

22³. marrid.

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.)

1³. tell you.

2³. he was aware.

10². she was from me tane.

16¹. dost thou here.

16². unto.

18⁴. like the.

19¹. not a fit: qd.

25². for wanting.

26¹. then wanting.

26³. And wanting.

27¹. having ende of.

27². lookt like a.

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.

1³. tell you.

2³. aware.

4³. spy.

5². quite for clean.

6². Midge for Nick.

9³. these seven.

10². she was from me taen.

11². any wanting.

13⁴. for wanting.

16¹. do wanting: then for he.

16². unto me.

17¹. then for he.

18⁴. Who shone like the glittering.

19¹. not a fit.

19⁴. she wanting.

22³. at the.

24³. Robin he.

24⁴. This coat.

25¹. to for into.

25². for wanting.

26¹. me wanting: maid, says.

27². 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.

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

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.

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

‘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.’

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.

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.

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.’

‘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.’

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.

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.

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.

‘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.

‘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.’

The people that lived in fair Nottingham

Came runing out amain,

Supposing to have taken bold Robin Hood,

With the forresters that were slain.

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.

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.

London, Printed for Fran. Grove. And entred according to order. (1620–55: Chappell.)

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.

6³. an.

7³. a mark.

15³. spake.

7³. an hundred.

11³. began.

12³. of the.

14². say you so.

14³. he another arrnw let fly.

18¹. to fair.

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?)

1¹. and wanting.

2¹. would unto.

2³. aware.

4¹. scorn said bold R. Hood.

5³. the mark an.

5⁴, 7⁴. one hart.

6¹. marks.

6³. That thou: an.

7³. an.

8². some say.

8³. in for within.

11². all wanting.

11³. began.

14⁴. Which split.

15¹. said.

15². for wanting.

15³. wish you ne’r had.

17³. R. Hood he bent.

18³. yards.

18⁴. 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.

B

131ROBIN HOOD AND THE RANGER

132THE BOLD PEDLAR AND ROBIN HOOD

133ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, I

134ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, II

135ROBIN HOOD AND THE SHEPHERD

136ROBIN HOOD’S DELIGHT(ROBIN HOOD, JOHN, SCARLOCK AND THREE KEEPERS)

137ROBIN HOOD AND THE PEDLARS

138ROBIN HOOD AND ALLEN A DALE

139ROBIN HOOD’S PROGRESS TO NOTTINGHAM

140ROBIN HOOD RESCUING THREE SQUIRES

131
ROBIN HOOD AND THE RANGER

132
THE BOLD PEDLAR AND ROBIN HOOD

133
ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, I

134
ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, II

135
ROBIN HOOD AND THE SHEPHERD

136
ROBIN HOOD’S DELIGHT
(ROBIN HOOD, JOHN, SCARLOCK AND THREE KEEPERS)

137
ROBIN HOOD AND THE PEDLARS

138
ROBIN HOOD AND ALLEN A DALE

139
ROBIN HOOD’S PROGRESS TO NOTTINGHAM

140
ROBIN HOOD RESCUING THREE SQUIRES