"Thou shalt be an archer as well as the best,
And range in the green-wood with us;
"Where we'll not want gold nor silver, behold,
While bishops have ought in their purse.
"We live here like 'squires, or lords of renown,145
Without e'er a foot of free land;
We feast on good cheer, with wine, ale, and beer,
And ev'ry thing at our command."
Then music and dancing did finish the day;
At length, when the sun waxed low,150
Then all the whole train the grove did refrain,
And unto their caves they did go.
And so ever after, as long as he liv'd,
Altho' he was proper and tall,
Yet, nevertheless, the truth to express,155
Still Little John they did him call.
ROBIN HOOD AND THE TANNER;
OR, ROBIN HOOD MET WITH HIS MATCH.
A merry and pleasant song relating the gallant and fierce combat fought between Arthur Bland, a tanner of Nottingham, and Robin Hood, the greatest and most noblest archer of England. Tune is, Robin Hood and the Stranger.
Ritson's Robin Hood, ii. 33, from an old black-letter copy in the collection of Anthony à Wood.
There is a copy with a few unimportant variations in A Collection of Old Ballads, i. 83, from which a single reading has been admitted.