[The version here printed differs but slightly from the one in the Folio MS. (ed. Hales and Furnivall, 1868, vol. iii. p. 76), and as the latter is of no critical value it has been thought unnecessary to point out the various readings. A fragment of an older edition than Copland's mentioned above has been recovered by Mr. Payne Collier, which is attributed to the press of Wynkyn de Worde by Mr. W. C. Hazlitt.
This spirited ballad is mentioned by Laneham in his Catalogue of Captain Cox's ballads, and the various editions it has passed through, and the frequent references to it in literature, prove its great and deserved popularity.
The circumstances of the second Fit resemble closely the rescue of Robin Hood by Little John, as related in "Robin Hood and the Monk," and the incident of the shot at the apple in the third Fit bears a curious likeness to the very ancient myth which is associated with William Tell. "Allane Bell" is mentioned by Dunbar in company with Robin Hood, Guy of Gisborne, and others, which proves that in his time these names had become mere abstractions.]
PART THE FIRST.
Mery it was in the grene forest
Amonge the levès grene,
Wheras men hunt east and west
Wyth bowes and arrowes kene;
To raise the dere out of theyr denne;5
Suche fightes hath ofte bene sene;
As by thre yemen of the north countrèy,
By them it is I meane.