ROBIN HOODS DEATH AND BURIAL:
Shewing how he was taken ill, and how he went to his cousin at Kirkley-hall, who let him blood, which was the cause of his death. Tune of Robin Hood's last farewel, &c.
"This very old (?) and curious piece is preserved solely in the editions of Robin Hood's Garland printed at York, (or such as have been taken from them,) where it is made to conclude with some foolish lines, (adopted from the London copy of Robin Hood and the Valiànt Knight,) in order to introduce the epitaph. It is here given from a collation of two different copies, containing numerous variations, a few of which are retained in the margin." Ritson's Robin Hood, ii. 187.
When Robin Hood and Little John,
Down a down, a down, a down.
Went o'er yon bank of broom,
Said Robin Hood to Little John,
"We have shot for many a pound:
Hey down, a down, a down.
"But I am not able to shoot one shot more,
My arrows will not flee;
But I have a cousin lives down below,
Please God, she will bleed me."
Now Robin is to fair Kirkley gone,
As fast as he can win;10
But before he came there, as we do hear,
He was taken very ill.
And when that he came to fair Kirkley-hall,
He knock'd all at the ring,
But none was so ready as his cousin herself15
For to let bold Robin in.
"Will you please to sit down, cousin Robin," she said,
"And drink some beer with me?"
"No, I will neither eat nor drink,
[Till I am blooded by thee.]"20