‘If you have several suits of the gay green silk,
And silken bowstrings two or three,
Then it’s by my body,’ cries bittle John,
‘One half your pack shall belong to me.’
Oh! nay, oh! nay,’ says the pedlar bold,
‘Oh! nay, oh! 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 ne’er 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 [61] of the gay green woods,
And travellèd far beyond the sea;
For killing a man in my father’s land,
From my country I was forced to flee.’