The sheriff could not that gainsay,165
For a trick was put upon him;
A supper was drest, the king was a guest,
But he thought 'twould have outdone him.
They are all gone to London court,
Robin Hood, with all his train;170
He once was there a noble peer,
And now he's there again.
Many such pranks brave Robin play'd,
While he liv'd in the green-wood:
[Now, my friend, attend, and hear an end]175
[Of honest Robin Hood.]
[119, 120]. Wanting in Ritson; supplied by Gutch.
[175, 176]. The two concluding lines refer to Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight, (see p. 888,) which ballad in some collections follows the present.
ROBIN HOOD AND THE GOLDEN ARROW.
Ritson's Robin Hood, ii. 175. From an Aldermary-Churchyard Garland. Perhaps by the same feeble and vulgar hand as the preceding, and, like that, founded on the Lytell Geste.
When as the sheriff of Nottingham
Was come with mickle grief,
He talk'd no good of Robin Hood,
That strong and sturdy thief.
Fal la dal de.