“He left all his merry men waiting behind,

Whilst through the green valleys he pass’d,

Where he did behold a forester bold,

Who cry’d out, ‘Friend, whither so fast?’

“I am going,’ quoth Robin, ‘to kill a fat buck,

For me and my merry men all;

Besides, ere 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;