Whilst through the green vallies he pass’d,
Where he did behold a forester bold,
Who cry’d out, Friend, whither so fast ?
I am going, quoth Robin, to kill a fat buck,
For me and my merry men all ;
Besides, ere I go, I’ll have a fat doe,
Or else it shall cost me a fall.
You’d best have a care, said the forester then,
For these are his majesty’s deer ;
Before you shall shoot, the thing I’ll dispute,