Among the leves grene
Where that men walke both East and West
Wyth bowes and arrowes kene.”
The full title, “Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough and William of Cloudesley”, has a sufficing rhythm, and the story is good; not unlike a Norse Saga, where they set fire to the outlaw’s house, and like William Tell, where Cloudesley splits an apple on his son’s head at six score paces.
But the true Robin Hood ballads take a child into his own country, and he finds it peopled with his friends. From the first stanzas of “The Curtall Friar”, he is Robin’s man:
“In summer time, when leaves grow green
And flowers are fresh and gay
Robin Hood and his merry men
Were disposed to play.”
In this play-humour, the outlaws themselves are children, as every child is by nature an outlaw. They know better than to take life for a serious business. To them, as to a child, it is one long and absorbing game of make-believe.