Little John and the Red Friar.
a lay of sherwood.
FYTTE THE FIRST.
The deer may leap within the glade;
The fawns may follow free—
For Robin is dead, and his bones are laid
Beneath the greenwood tree.
And broken are his merry, merry men,
That goodly companie:
There’s some have ta’en the northern road
With Jem of Netherbee.
The best and bravest of the band
With Derby Ned are gone;
But Earlie Grey and Charlie Wood,
They stayed with Little John.
Now Little John was an outlaw proud,
A prouder ye never saw;
Through Nottingham and Leicester shires
He thought his word was law,
And he strutted through the greenwood wide,
Like a pestilent jackdaw.
He swore that none, but with leave of him,
Should set foot on the turf so free:
And he thought to spread his cutter’s rule,
All over the south countrie.
“There’s never a knave in the land,” he said,
“But shall pay his toll to me!”
And Charlie Wood was a taxman good
As ever stepped the ground,
He levied mail, like a sturdy thief,
From all the yeomen round.
“Nay, stand!” quoth he, “thou shalt pay to me
Seven pence from every pound!”
Now word has come to Little John,
As he lay upon the grass,
That a Friar red was in merry Sherwood
Without his leave to pass.