It belongs to the large class of tales in which the sovereign is made to converse on terms of good fellowship with a humble subject.
The interesting ballad of John the Reeve referred to by Percy is printed for the first time in Hales and Furnivall's edition of the Folio Manuscript (vol. ii. p. 550.)
The Tanner of Tamworth is introduced into the first part of Heywood's Edward IV. The ballad Under the greenwood tree, among the Ashmole MSS. at Oxford, Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, and Robin Hood and the Monk, all begin with the same words as this ballad—
"In summer time when leaves grow green."
The present version is an eclectic copy, polished and reversified by Percy.]
In summer time, when leaves grow greene,
And blossoms bedecke the tree,
King Edward wolde a hunting ryde,
Some pastime for to see.
With hawke and hounde he made him bowne,[450] 5
With horne, and eke with bowe;
To Drayton Basset he tooke his waye,
With all his lordes a rowe.
And he had ridden ore dale and downe
By eight of clocke in the day, 10
When he was ware of a bold tannèr,
Come ryding along the waye.