Twyse Robyn shot about,
And ever he cleved the wande.—
And so did Gilbert, Little John, and Scathelocke, his companions; but,
At the last shot, that Robyn shot,
For all his frendes fore,
Yet he fayled of the garland.
Three fyngers and more—
of course his "takill" was forfeited, which he presented to the king, saying,
Syr abbot, I deliver thee myne arrowe.
The second poem is also of the ballad kind, and apparently as old as the former, [317] wherein Adam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe, and William Cloudesle, are introduced to shoot before the king. The butts, or dead marks set up by the king's archers, were censured by Cloudesle, saying,