The second part, referred to in the last stanza, was separated, Mr Chappell thought, when the present ballad was “newly revived,” because the whole was found too long for a penny (one would say that both parts together were “dear enough a leek”), and seven stanzas (incoherent in themselves and not cohering with what lies before us) added to fill up the sheet. These stanzas will be given under No 130, as Robin Hood and the Scotchman; and the “second part,” ‘R. H. and the Prince of Aragon,’ or ‘R. H., Will. Scadlock and Little John,’ follows immediately.
1
Come listen a while, you gentlemen all,
With a hey down down a down down
That are in this bower within,
For a story of gallant bold Robin Hood
I purpose now to begin.
2
‘What time of the day?’ quoth Robin Hood then;
Quoth Little John, ’Tis in the prime;