"What is your will, mastèr?" they said,
"We are here at your command:"110
"Shoot east, shoot west," said Robin Hood then,
"And see you spare no man."
Then they shot east, then they shot west,
Their arrows were so keen,
The sheriffe he, and his companie,115
No longer could be seen.
Then he stept to those brethren three,
And away he has them tane;
The sheriffe was crost, and many a man lost,
That dead lay on the plain.120
And away they went into the merry green wood,
And sung with a merry glee;
Then Robin Hood took those brethren good
To be of his yeomandrie.
ROBIN HOOD AND THE OLD MAN.
A FRAGMENT.
From Jamieson's Popular Ballads, ii. 49, where it was printed "verbatim et literatim" from the Percy Manuscript.
This is the same story with the two ballads which follow and the Second Part of the preceding.
* * * * * * *
In faith, thou shalt have mine,
And 20s. in thy purse,
To spend at ale and wine."