A GEST OF ROBYN HODE‘Rebus huius Roberti gestis tota Britannia in cantibus utitur.’Major.The Text.—There are seven texts of theGest, to be distinguished as follows:—(i.) begins ‘Here begynneth a gest of Robyn Hode’; an undated printed fragment preserved with other early pieces in a volume in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh. It was reprinted in 1827 by David Laing, who then supposed it to be from the press of Chepman and Myllar, Edinburgh printers of the early sixteenth century; but he afterwards had reason to doubt this opinion. It is now attributed to Jan van Doesborch, a printer from Antwerp. The extent of this fragment is indicated below. Internal evidence (collected by Child, iii. 40) shows it to be an older text than(ii.) ‘Here begynneth a lytell geste of Robyn hode’—so runs the title-page; at the head of the poem are added the words—‘and his meyne [= meinie, company], And of the proude Sheryfe of Notyngham.’ The colophon runs ‘Explycit. kynge Edwarde and Robyn hode and Lytell Johan Enprented at London in fletestrete at the sygne of the sone By Wynken de Worde.’ This also is undated, and Child says it ‘may be anywhere from 1492 to 1534.’ Recent bibliographical research shows that Wynkyn de Worde moved to Fleet Street at the end of the year 1500, which gives the downward limit; and as the printer died in 1584, theLytell Gestemust beplaced between those dates.1The text is complete save for two lines (7.1and 339.1), which have also dropped from the other early texts. The only known copy is in the Cambridge University Library.(iii., iv. and v.) Three mutilated printed fragments, containing about thirty-five, seventy, and fifteen stanzas respectively, preserved amongst the Douce fragments in the Bodleian (the last presented by J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps). The first was lent to Ritson in or before 1790 by Farmer, who thought it to be Rastell’s printing; in Ritson’s second edition (1836) he says he gave it to Douce, and states without reason that it is of de Worde’s printing ‘probably in 1489.’(vi.)A mery geste of Robyn Hoode, etc., a quarto preserved in the British Museum, not dated, but printed ‘at London vpon the thre Crane wharfe by wyllyam Copland,’ who printed there about 1560. This edition also contains ‘a newe playe for to be played in Maye games, very plesaunte and full of pastyme.’(vii.)A Merry Iest of Robin Hood, etc., printed at London for Edward White; no date, but perhaps the ‘pastorall plesant commedie’ entered to White in the Stationers’ Registers, May 14, 1594. There is a copy of this in the Bodleian, and another was in the Huth Library.The Texthere given is mainly the Wynkyn de Worde text, except where the earlier Edinburgh fragment is available; the stanzas which the latter preserves are here numbered 1.-83.3, 113.4-124.1, 127.4-133.2, 136.4-208.3, and 314.2-349.3, omitting 2.2,3and7.1. A few variations are recorded in the footnotes, it being unnecessary in the present edition to do more than refer to Child’s laborious collation of all the above texts.The spelling of the old texts is retained with very few exceptions. The reason for this is that although the original texts were printed in the sixteenth century, the language is of the fifteenth, and a number of Middle English forms remain; these are pointed out by Child, iii. 40, and elaborately classified by W. H. Clawson,The Gest of Robin Hood, 4-5. A possible alternative was to treat theGeston the plan adopted for fifteenth-century texts by E. K. Chambers and the present editor inEarly English Lyrics(1907); but in that book the editors were mostly concerned with texts printed from manuscript, whereas here there is good reason to suspect the existence of a text or texts previous to those now available. For the sounded e (ë) I have mostly followed Child.TheGestis not a single ballad, but a conglomeration of several, forming a short epic. Ballads representing its component parts are not now extant; although on the other hand there are later ballads founded on certain episodes in theGest. The compiler availed himself of incidents from other traditional sources, but he produced a singularly original tale.The wordgest, now almost obsolete, is derived through Old French from the Latingesta, ‘deeds’ or ‘exploits.’ But as the word was particularly applied to ‘exploits as narrated or recited,’ there came into use a secondary meaning—that of ‘a story or romantic tale in verse,’ or ‘a metrical chronicle.’ The latter meaning is doubtless intended in the title of theGest of Robyn Hode. A further corruption may be noticed even in the titles of the later texts asgiven above; Copland adds the word ‘mery,’ which thirty years later causes White to print a ‘Merry Jest.’I have kept the original divisions of the story into eight ‘fyttes,’ but it falls more naturally into three main sections, in each of which a complete story is narrated. These may he distinguished thus:—1.Robin Hood and the Knight.(Fyttes First, Second, and Fourth.)2.Robin Hood, Little John, and the Sheriff of Nottingham.(Fyttes Third, Fifth, and Sixth.)3.Robin Hood and King Edward.(Fyttes Seventh and Eighth.)An argument and general notes are prefixed to each fytte.THE FIRST FYTTE (1-81)Argument.—Robin Hood refuses to dine until he finds some guest to provide money for his entertainment. He sends Little John and all his men to bring in any earl, baron, abbot, or knight, to dine with him. They find a knight, and feast him beneath the greenwood tree: but when Robin demands payment, the knight turns out to be in sorry plight, for he has sold all his goods to save his son. On the security of Our Lady, Robin lends him four hundred pounds, and gives him a livery, a horse, a palfrey, boots, spurs, etc., and Little John as squire.Robin’s unwillingness to dine until he has a guest appears to be a parody of King Arthur’s custom of refusing dinner until he has had an adventure. (See Child, i. 257, note ‡.) The offer of the Virgin as security for a loan is apparently derived from a well-known miracle of Mary, in which a Christian, wishing to borrow money of a Jew, takes him to a church and makes him lay his hand on a statue of the Virgin and Child, praying that, if he fails to return the money on the day fixed to the lender, but gives it to the statue, Christ will return it to the Jew. This miracle eventually takes place, but is attributed rather to the Virgin than to her Son. (See Child, iii. 52.)1.Mr. Charles Sayle puts it ‘before 1519’ in his catalogue of the early printed books in the University Library.THE FIRST FYTTE1.1.1‘Lythe and listin,’ hearken and listen: a very common opening.1.2‘frebore,’ free-born.Lytheand listin, gentilmen,That be of frebore blode;I shall you tel of a gode yeman,His name was Robyn Hode.2.2.2,3‘Whyles . . . outlaw’: supplied from the Wynkyn de Worde text.Robyn was a prude outlaw,Whyles he walked on grounde;So curteyse an outlaw as he was oneWas never non yfounde.3.Robyn stode in Bernesdale,And lenyd hym to a tre;And bi him stode Litell Johnn,A gode yeman was he.4.4.4i.e., worthy of a groom, or young man.And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok,And Much, the miller’s son;There was none ynch of his bodiBut it was worth a grome.5.5.3‘and,’ if.Than bespake Lytell JohnnAll untoo Robyn Hode:‘Maister, and ye wolde dyne betymeIt wolde doo you moche gode.’6.6.4‘unkouth,’ unknown.Than bespake hym gode Robyn:‘To dyne have I noo lust,Till that I have som bolde baron,Or som unkouth gest.7.7.1Wanting in all versions.7.3‘som,’ supplied from Wynken de Worde’s text......‘That may pay for the best,Or some knyght or som squyerThat dwelleth here bi west.’8.8.4‘messis,’ masses.A gode maner than had Robyn:In londe where that he were,Every day or he wold dyneThre messis wolde he here.9.9.4‘allther moste,’ most of all.The one in the worship of the Fader,And another of the Holy Gost,The thirde was of Our dere LadyThat he loved allther moste.10.10.2‘dout,’ fear.Robyn loved Oure dere Lady;For dout of dydly synne,Wolde he never do compani harmeThat any woman was in.11.‘Maistar,’ than sayde Lytil Johnn,‘And we our borde shal sprede,Tell us wheeler that we shall goAnd what life that we shall lede.12.12.3‘reve,’ pillage.‘Where we shall take, where we shall leve,Where we shall abide behynde;Where we shall robbe, where we shall reve,Where we shall bete and bynde.’13.13.1‘no force,’ no matter.‘Thereof no force,’ than sayde Robyn;‘We shall do well inowe;But loke ye do no husbonde harmeThat tilleth with his ploughe.14.‘No more ye shall no gode yemanThat walketh by grene-wode shawe;Ne no knyght ne no squyerThat wol be a gode felawe.15.‘These bisshoppes and these archebishoppes,Ye shall them bete and bynde;The hye sherif of Notyingham,Hym holde ye in your mynde.’16.16.2‘lere,’ learn.16.3‘fer dayes,’ late in the day: ‘gest,’ exploit.‘This worde shalbe holde,’ sayde Lytell Johnn,‘And this lesson we shall lere;It is fer dayes; God sende us a gest,That we were at our dynere.’17.‘Take thy gode bowe in thy honde,’ sayde Robyn;‘Late Much wende with thee;And so shal Willyam Scarlok,And no man abyde with me.18.18.1The Sayles, a small part of the manor of Pontefract.18.2Watling Street = the great North Road.18.4‘Up chaunce,’ in case.‘And walke up to the SaylisAnd so to Watlinge Strete,And wayte after some unkuth gest,Up chaunce ye may them mete.19.19.4‘dight,’ prepared.‘Be he erle, or ani baron,Abbot, or ani knyght,Bringhe hym to lodge to me;His dyner shall be dight.’20.They wente up to the Saylis,These yemen all three;They loked est, they loked weest,They myght no man see.21.21.2‘dernë strete,’ hidden or obscure path.But as they loked in to Bernysdale,Bi a dernë strete,Than came a knyght ridinghe;Full sone they gan hym mete.22.All dreri was his semblaunce,And lytell was his pryde;His one fote in the styrop stode,That othere wavyd beside.23.23.1‘iyn,’ eyes.His hode hanged in his iyn two;He rode in symple aray;A soriar man than he was oneRode never in somer day.24.Litell Johnn was full curteyes,And sette hym on his kne:‘Welcome be ye, gentyll knyght,Welcom ar ye to me.25.25.2‘Hendë,’ noble.‘Welcom be thou to grenë wode,Hendë knyght and fre;My maister hath abiden you fastinge,Syr, al these ourës thre.’26.‘Who is thy maister?’ sayde the knyght;Johnn sayde, ‘Robyn Hode’;‘He is a gode yoman,’ sayde the knyght,‘Of hym I have herde moche gode.27.27.2‘in fere,’ in company.‘I graunte,’ he sayde, ‘with you to wende,My bretherne, all in fere;My purpos was to have dyned to dayAt Blith or Dancastere.’28.28.2‘carefull chere,’ sorrowful face.28.4‘lere,’ cheek.Furth than went this gentyl knight,With a carefull chere;The teris oute of his iyen ran,And fell downe by his lere.29.They brought him to the lodgë-dore;Whan Robyn gan hym see,Full curtesly dyd of his hodeAnd sette hym on his knee.30.‘Welcome, sir knight,’ than sayde Robyn,‘Welcome art thou to me;I have abyden you fastinge, sir,All these ouris thre.’31.31.4‘meynë,’ company.Than answered the gentyll knight,With wordës fayre and fre:‘God thee save, goode Robyn,And all thy fayre meynë.’32.32.4‘noumbles,’ entrails.They wasshed togeder and wyped bothe,And sette to theyr dynere;Brede and wyne they had right ynoughe,And noumbles of the dere.33.Swannes and fessauntes they had full gode,And foules of the ryvere;There fayled none so litell a birdeThat ever was bred on bryre.34.34.1‘Do gladly’ = make yourself at home; a hospitable expression. Cp. 103.1and 232.1.‘Do gladly, sir knight,’ sayde Robyn;‘Gramarcy, sir,’ sayde he;‘Suche a dinere had I natOf all these wekys thre.35.‘If I come ageyne, Robyn,Here by thys contrë,As gode a dyner I shall thee makeAs thou haest made to me.’36.‘Gramarcy, knyght,’ sayde Robyn;‘My dyner whan that I it have,I was never so gredy, by dere worthy God,My dyner for to crave.37.37.1‘or ye wende,’ before you go.‘But pay or ye wende,’ sayde Robyn;‘Me thynketh it is gode ryght;It was never the maner, by dere worthi God,A yoman to pay for a knyght.’38.38.4‘let not,’ leave nothing undone.‘I have nought in my coffers,’ saide the knyght,‘That I may prefer for shame’:‘Litell John, go loke,’ sayde Robyn,‘Ne let not for no blame.39.39.2,4‘have parte of,’ perhaps means ‘protect,’ or ‘take my part.’‘Tel me truth,’ than saide Robyn,‘So God have parte of thee’:‘I have no more but ten shelynges,’ sayde the knyght,‘So God have parte of me.’40.‘If thou have no more,’ sayde Robyn,‘I woll nat one peny;And yf thou have nede of any more,More shall I lend the.41.‘Go nowe furth, Littell Johnn,The truth tell thou me;If there be no more but ten shelinges,No peny that I se.’42.Lyttell Johnn sprede downe hys mantellFull fayre upon the grounde,And there he fonde in the knyghtës coferBut even halfe a pounde.43.Littell Johnn let it lye full styll,And went to hys maysteer full lowe;‘What tydynges, Johnn?’ sayde Robyn;‘Sir, the knyght is true inowe.’44.‘Fyll of the best wine,’ sayde Robyn,‘The knyght shall begynne;Moche wonder thinketh meThy clothynge is so thinne.45.45.3This refers to ‘distraint of knighthood,’ instituted in 1224, compelling military tenants to receive knighthood or pay a composition.‘Tell me one worde,’ sayde Robyn,‘And counsel shal it be;I trowe thou wert made a knyght of force,Or ellys of yemanry.46.46.3‘okerer,’ usurer.‘Or ellys thou hast been a sori husbande,And lyved in stroke and strife;An okerer, or ellis a lechoure,’ sayde Robyn,‘Wyth wronge hast led thy lyfe.’47.‘I am none of those,’ sayde the knyght,‘By God that madë me;An hundred wynter here beforeMyn auncetres knyghtes have be.48.48.2‘disgrate,’ unfortunate.‘But oft it hath befal, Robyn,A man hath be disgrate;But God that sitteth in heven aboveMay amende his state.49.49.4From the rhyme it is obvious the verses have here been confused, especially as all copies print 50.3before 50.2.‘Withyn this two yere, Robyne,’ he sayde,‘My neghbours well it knowe,Foure hundred pounde of gode moneyFul well than myght I spende.50.‘Nowe have I no gode,’ saide the knyght,‘God hath shapen suche an ende,But my chyldren and my wyfe,Tyll God yt may amende.’51.‘In what maner,’ than sayde Robyn,‘Hast thou lorne thy rychesse?’‘For my greate foly,’ he sayde,‘And for my kyndënesse.52.52.4‘just,’ joust, tilt.‘I hade a sone, forsoth, Robyn,That shulde have ben myn ayre,Whanne he was twenty wynter olde,In felde wolde just full fayre.53.53.4, 54.1‘beth’ (in another version ‘both’), are.‘He slewe a knyght of Lancashire,And a squyer bolde;For to save him in his ryghtMy godes beth sette and solde.54.54.1‘sette to wedde,’ put in pledge.‘My londes beth sette to wedde, Robyn,Untyll a certayn day,To a ryche abbot here besydeOf Seynt Mari Abbey.’55.‘What is the som?’ sayde Robyn;‘Trouth than tell thou me.’‘Sir,’ he sayde, ‘foure hundred pounde;The abbot told it to me.’56.56.1‘lese,’ lose.‘Nowe and thou lese thy lond,’ sayde Robyn,‘What shall fall of thee?’‘Hastely I wol me buske,’ sayd the knyght,‘Over the saltë see,57.57.1‘quyke’ = quick, alive.‘And se where Criste was quyke and dede,On the mount of Calverë;Fare wel, frende, and have gode day;It may no better be.’58.Teris fell out of hys iyen two;He wolde have gone hys way;‘Farewel, frende, and have gode day,I ne have no more to pay.’59.59.4‘blowe,’ utter.‘Where be thy frendës?’ sayde Robyn:‘Syr, never one wol me knowe;While I was rych ynowe at homeGreat boste than wolde they blowe.60.60.2‘on a rowe,’ in file.‘And nowe they renne away fro me,As bestis on a rowe;They take no more hede of meThanne they had me never sawe.’61.61.1‘ruthe,’ pity.61.4‘chere,’ entertainment.For ruthe thanne wept Litell Johnn,Scarlok and Much in fere;‘Fyl of the best wyne,’ sayde Robyn,‘For here is a symple chere.62.62.2‘borrowe,’ security.‘Hast thou any frende,’ sayde Robyn,‘Thy borrowe that woldë be?’‘I have none,’ than sayde the knyght,‘But God that dyed on tree.’63.‘Do away thy japis,’ than sayde Robyn,‘Thereof wol I right none;Wenest thou I wolde have God to borowe,Peter, Poule, or Johnn?64.64.2‘shope,’ shaped.‘Nay, by hym that me made,And shope both sonne and mone,Fynde me a better borowe,’ sayde Robyn,‘Or money getest thou none.’65.65.4‘or,’ before.‘I have none other,’ sayde the knyght,‘The sothe for to say,But yf yt be Our dere Lady;She fayled me never or thys day.’66.66.3‘pay,’ liking.‘By dere worthy God,’ sayde Robyn,‘To seche all Englonde thorowe,Yet fonde I never to my payA moche better borowe.67.‘Come nowe furth, Litell Johnn,And go to my tresourë,And bringe me foure hundred pound,And loke well tolde it be.’68.Furth than went Litell Johnn,And Scarlok went before;He tolde oute foure hundred poundeBy eight and twenty score.69.‘Is thys well tolde?’ sayde lytell Much;Johnn sayde: ‘What greveth thee?It is almus to helpe a gentyll knyghtThat is fal in povertë.70.‘Master,’ than sayde Lityll John,‘His clothinge is full thynne;Ye must gyve the knight a lyveray,To lappe his body therein.71.‘For ye have scarlet and grene, mayster,And many a rich aray;Ther is no marchaunt in mery EnglondSo ryche, I dare well say.’72.72.2‘mete,’ measured. So 73.1‘met’ = measured.‘Take hym thre yerdes of every colour,And loke well mete that it be.’Lytell Johnn toke none other mesureBut his bowë-tree.73.And at every handfull that he metHe lepëd fotës three;‘What devylles drapar,’ sayd litell Much,‘Thynkest thou for to be?’74.74.1‘loughe,’ laughed.Scarlok stode full stil and loughe,And sayd, ‘By God Almyght,Johnn may gyve hym gode mesure,For it costeth hym but lyght.’75.‘Mayster,’ than said Litell JohnnTo gentill Robyn Hode,‘Ye must give the knight a horsTo lede home al this gode.’76.‘Take him a gray coursar,’ sayde Robyn,‘And a saydle newe;He is Oure Ladye’s messangere;God graunt that he be true.’77.‘And a gode palfray,’ sayde lytell Much,‘To mayntene hym in his right’;‘And a peyre of botës,’ sayde Scarlok,‘For he is a gentyll knight.’78.78.4‘tene,’ trouble.‘What shalt thou gyve him, Litell John?’‘Sir, a peyre of gilt sporis clene,To pray for all this company;God bringe hym oute of tene.’79.‘Whan shal mi day be,’ said the knight,‘Sir, and your wyll be?’‘This day twelve moneth,’ saide Robyn,‘Under this grene-wode tre.80.‘It were great shamë,’ said Robyn,‘A knight alone to ryde,Withoutë squyre, yoman, or page,To walkë by his syde.81.81.2‘knave,’ servant.81.3i.e., he shall stand for thee instead of a yeoman.‘I shal thee lende Litell Johnn, my man,For he shalbe thy knave;In a yeman’s stede he may thee stande,If thou greate nedë have.’THE SECOND FYTTE (82-143)Argument.—The knight goes to York to pay down his four hundred pounds to the abbot of St. Mary Abbey, who has retained the services of the high justice of England ‘with cloth and fee,’ an offence defined as conspiracy by statutes of the first three Edwards (seeNotes and Queries, First Series, vol. vi. p. 479). The knight, pretending he has not brought the money, requests an extension of time; but the abbot will not hear of it, and is supported in his refusal by the justice: the knight’s lands will be forfeited. The justice advises the abbot (117, etc.) to give the knight a sum to ‘make a release’ and prevent subsequent legal difficulties. The knight brings the matter to an end by paying down the four hundred pounds, saying that had the abbot been more courteous, he should have had interest on the loan.The knight returns to his home in Wyresdale, and saves up the sum to be repaid to Robin Hood. As he sets out for Barnsdale with a goodly company, he finds a great wrestling-match taking place at Wentbridge,2which delays him a while.The word ‘frembde’ (138.3) is now obsolete except in Scots and north-country dialect, and is spelled in various ways. It occurs more than once in Chaucer, and twice in Sidney’sArcadia. ‘Fremit,’ the common Scots form, may be found in Burns. Morerecently, it appears in books of Westmoreland, Cumberland, or Northumberland dialect. Cp. Mrs. Gaskell,Sylvia’s Lovers: ‘There’s a fremd man i’ t’ house.’ It means ‘foreign’ or ‘strange.’2.Wentbridge is mentioned inRobin Hood and the Potter, 6.1. The river Went is the northern boundary of Barnsdale.THE SECOND FYTTE82.Nowis the knight gone on his way;This game hym thought full gode;Whanne he loked on BernësdaleHe blessyd Robyn Hode.83.83.4From here to 118.3the Edinburgh fragment is wanting.And whanne he thought on Bernysdale,On Scarlok, Much and JohnnHe blyssyd them for the best companyThat ever he in come.84.Then spake that gentyll knyght,To Lytel Johan gan he saye,‘To-morrowe I must to Yorke toune,To Saynt Mary abbay.85.‘And to the abbot of that placeFoure hondred pounde I must pay;And but I be there upon this nyghtMy londe is lost for ay.’86.86.1‘covent’ = convent.The abbot sayd to his covent,There he stode on grounde,‘This day twelfe moneth came there a knyghtAnd borowed foure hondred pounde.87.87.1Wanting: supplied by Ritson.87.3‘But,’ unless: ‘ylkë,’ same.[‘He borowed four hondred pounde]Upon all his londë fre;But he come this ylkë dayDisherited shall he be.’88.88.3‘lever,’ rather.‘It is full erely,’ sayd the pryoure,The day is not yet ferre gone;I had lever to pay an hondred pounde,And lay downe anone.89.‘The knyght is ferre beyonde the see,In Englonde is his ryght,And suffreth honger and coldeAnd many a sory nyght.90.‘It were grete pytë,’ said the pryoure,‘So to have his londe;And ye be so lyght of your consyence,Ye do to hym moch wronge.’91.91.4‘selerer’ cellarer or steward.‘Thou arte ever in my berde,’ sayd the abbot,‘By God and Saynt Rycharde’;With that cam in a fat-heded monke,The heygh selerer.92.92.2‘bought,’ ransomed.‘He is dede or hanged,’ sayd the monke,‘By God that bought me dere,And we shall have to spende in this placeFoure hondred pounde by yere.’93.93.3‘highe,’ supplied from Copland’s edition.The abbot and the hy selererStertë forthe full bolde,The highe justyce of EnglondeThe abbot there dyde holde.94.The hye justyce and many moHad take in to theyr hondeHoly all the knyghtës det,To put that knyght to wronge.95.95.1‘demed,’ judged.95.4‘dysheryte,’ dispossessed; cf. 87.4.They demed the knyght wonder sore,The abbot and his meynë:‘But he come this ylkë dayDysheryte shall he be.’96.‘He wyll not come yet,’ sayd the justyce,‘I dare well undertake’;But in sorowe tymë for them allThe knight came to the gate.97.Than bespake that gentyll knyghtUntyll his meynë:‘Now put on your symple wedesThat ye brought fro the see.’98.98.Wanting in all editions: supplied by Ritson.[They put on their symple wedes,]They came to the gates anone;The porter was redy hymselfeAnd welcomed them everychone.99.‘Welcome, syr knyght,’ sayd the porter,‘My lorde to mete is he,And so is many a gentyll man,For the love of thee.’100.100.3‘coresed,’ perhaps = coursed;i.e.a horse used in tourneys, a courser, or charger.The porter swore a full grete othe:‘By God that madë me,Here be the best coresed horsThat ever yet sawe I me.101.‘Lede them in to the stable,’ he sayd,‘That eased myght they be’;‘They shall not come therin,’ sayd the knyght,‘By God that dyed on a tre.’102.102.4‘salved,’ greeted.Lordës were to mete isetteIn that abbotes hall;The knyght went forth and kneled down,And salved them grete and small.103.103.1See 34.1.‘Do gladly, syr abbot,’ sayd the knyght,‘I am come to holde my day.’The fyrst word that the abbot spake,‘Hast thou brought my pay?’104.104.3‘shrewed,’ cursed.‘Not one peny,’ sayd the knyght,‘By God that makëd me.’‘Thou art a shrewed dettour,’ sayd the abbot;‘Syr justyce, drynke to me.105.105.2‘But,’ unless. So 111.3‘What doost thou here,’ sayd the abbot,‘But thou haddest brought thy pay?’‘For God,’ than sayd the knyght,‘To pray of a lenger daye.’106.106.4‘fone,’ foes.‘Thy daye is broke,’ sayd the justyce,‘Londë getest thou none.’‘Now, good syr justyce, be my frendeAnd fende me of my fone!’107.107.1,2‘retained by presents of cloth and money.’ —Child.‘I am holde with the abbot,’ sayd the justyce,‘Both with cloth and fee.’‘Now, good syr sheryf, be my frende!’‘Nay, for God,’ sayd he.108.108.4‘made the gree,’ paid my dues. (Old Frenchgre, Latingratum.)‘Now, good syr abbot, be my frende,For thy curteysë,And holde my londës in thy hondeTyll I have made the gree!109.‘And I wyll be thy true servaunte,And trewely serve the,Tyll ye have foure hondred poundeOf money good and free.’110.The abbot sware a full grete othe,‘By God that dyed on a tree,Get the londë where thou may,For thou getest none of me.’111.‘By dere worthy God,’ then sayd the knyght,‘That all this worldë wrought,But I have my londe agayne,Full dere it shall be bought.112.112.2‘Leve,’ grant.112.4‘Or that,’ before that. The proverb is a favourite in Middle English: seeEarly English Lyrics,CXI.‘God, that was of a mayden borne,Leve us well to spede!For it is good to assay a frendeOr that a man have nede.’113.The abbot lothely on hym gan loke,And vylaynesly hym gan call;‘Out,’ he sayd, ‘thou false knyght,Spede thee out of my hall!’114.‘Thou lyest,’ then sayd the gentyll knyght,‘Abbot, in thy hal;False knyght was I never,By God that made us all.’115.Up then stode that gentyll knyght,To the abbot sayd he,‘To suffre a knyght to knele so longe,Thou canst no curteysye.116.116.3‘as ferre in prees,’ in as thick a part of the fight.‘In joustës and in tournementFull ferre than have I be,And put myself as ferre in preesAs ony that ever I se.’117.‘What wyll ye gyve more,’ sayd the justyce,‘And the knyght shall make a releyse?And ellës dare I safly swereYe holde never your londe in pees.’118.118.4From here to 124.1the Edinburgh fragment is available.‘An hondred pounde,’ sayd the abbot;The justice sayd, ‘Gyve hym two’;‘Nay, be God,’ sayd the knyght,‘Yit gete ye it not so.119.119.2‘nere,’ nearer. Cp.Robin Hood and the Potter, 46.3.‘Though ye wolde gyve a thousand more,Yet were ye never the nere;Shal there never be myn heyreAbbot, justice, ne frere.’120.He stert hym to a borde anone,Tyll a table rounde,And there he shoke oute of a baggeEven four hundred pound.121.‘Have here thi golde, sir abbot,’ saide the knight,‘Which that thou lentest me;Had thou ben curtes at my comynge,Rewarded shuldest thou have be.’122.The abbot sat styll, and ete no more,For all his ryall fare;He cast his hede on his shulder,And fast began to stare.123.123.2‘toke,’ gave.‘Take me my golde agayne,’ saide the abbot,‘Sir justice, that I toke thee.’‘Not a peni,’ said the justice,‘Bi God, that dyed on tree.’124.‘Sir abbot, and ye men of lawe,Now have I holde my daye:Now shall I have my londe agayne,For ought that you can saye.’125.The knyght stert out of the dore,Awaye was all his care,And on he put his good clothynge,The other he lefte there.126.126.4‘Verysdale,’ Wyresdale or Wyersdale.He wente hym forth full mery syngynge,As men have tolde in tale;His lady met hym at the gate,At home in Verysdale.127.127.4The Edinburgh fragment is again available as far as 133.2.‘Welcome, my lorde,’ sayd his lady;‘Syr, lost is all your good?’‘Be mery, dame,’ sayd the knyght,‘And pray for Robyn Hode,128.128.2‘tene,’ trouble.‘That ever his soulë be in blysse:He holpe me out of tene;Ne had be his kyndënesse,Beggers had we bene.129.‘The abbot and I accorded ben,He is served of his pay;The god yoman lent it meAs I cam by the way.’130.This knight than dwelled fayre at home,The sothë for to saye,Tyll he had gete four hundred pound,Al redy for to pay.131.131.2‘ydyght,’ fitted.He purveyed him an hundred bowes,The stryngës well ydyght,An hundred shefe of arowes gode,The hedys burneshed full bryght;132.132.3‘Inocked’ = i-nocked, notched.And every arowe an ellë longe,With pecok well idyght,Inocked all with whyte silver;It was a semely syght.133.133.1,2The latter halves of these lines are torn away in the Edinburgh fragment. The Cambridge text is resumed at 133.3.133.2‘stede,’ place.He purveyed him an hondreth men,Well harnessed in that stede,And hym selfe in that same sete,And clothed in whyte and rede.134.134.1‘launsgay,’ javelin.134.2‘male,’ baggage. Cp. 374.1.He bare a launsgay in his honde,And a man ledde his male,And reden with a lyght songeUnto Bernysdale.135.135.1So the Cambridge text: Child suggests ‘? But at Wentbrydge ther was.’ See Argument.But as he went at a brydge ther was a wrastelyng,And there taryed was he,And there was all the best yemenOf all the west countree.136.136.2‘i-pyght,’ put.136.4Edinburgh fragment again.A full fayre game there was up set,A whyte bulle up i-pyght,A grete courser, with sadle and brydil,With golde burnyssht full bryght.137.A payre of gloves, a rede golde rynge,A pype of wyne, in fay;What man that bereth hym best i-wysThe pryce shall bere away.138.138.3‘frembde bested,’ in the position of a foreigner or stranger. See fore-note.There was a yoman in that place,And best worthy was he,And for he was ferre and frembde bested,Slayne he shulde have be.139.The knight had ruthe of this yoman,In placë where that he stode;He sayde that yoman shulde have no harme,For love of Robyn Hode.140.140.2‘free,’ supplied from the ‘fere,’ misprinted in the Cambridge text. Copland, ‘in fere.’140.4‘shende,’ put to rout.The knyght presed in to the place,An hundreth folowed hym [free],With bowes bent and arowes sharpe,For to shende that companye.141.141.1‘rome,’ room.They shulderd all and made hym rome,To wete what he wolde say;He took the yeman bi the hande,And gave hym al the play.142.He gave hym five marke for his wyne,There it lay on the molde,And bad it shulde be set a broche,Drynkë who so wolde.143.Thus longe taried this gentyll knyght,Tyll that play was done;So long abode Robyn fastingeThre hourës after the none.THE THIRD FYTTE (144-204)Argument.—The narrative of the knight’s loan is for the moment dropped, in order to relate a gest of Little John, who is now (81.2) the knight’s ‘knave’ or squire. Going forth ‘upon a mery day,’ Little John shoots with such skill that he attracts the attention of the Sheriff of Nottingham (who is here and elsewhere the type of Robin Hood’s enemies), and enters his service for a year under the name of Reynold Greenleaf. While the sheriff is hunting, Little John fights his servants, robs his treasure-house, and escapes back to Robin Hood with ‘three hundred pound and more.’ He then bethinks him of a shrewd wile, and inveigles the sheriff to leave his hunting in order to see a right fair hart and seven score of deer, which turn out to be Robin and his men. Robin Hood exacts an oath of the sheriff, equivalent to an armistice; and he returns home, having had his fill of the greenwood.THE THIRD FYTTE
‘Rebus huius Roberti gestis tota Britannia in cantibus utitur.’
Major.
The Text.—There are seven texts of theGest, to be distinguished as follows:—
(i.) begins ‘Here begynneth a gest of Robyn Hode’; an undated printed fragment preserved with other early pieces in a volume in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh. It was reprinted in 1827 by David Laing, who then supposed it to be from the press of Chepman and Myllar, Edinburgh printers of the early sixteenth century; but he afterwards had reason to doubt this opinion. It is now attributed to Jan van Doesborch, a printer from Antwerp. The extent of this fragment is indicated below. Internal evidence (collected by Child, iii. 40) shows it to be an older text than
(ii.) ‘Here begynneth a lytell geste of Robyn hode’—so runs the title-page; at the head of the poem are added the words—‘and his meyne [= meinie, company], And of the proude Sheryfe of Notyngham.’ The colophon runs ‘Explycit. kynge Edwarde and Robyn hode and Lytell Johan Enprented at London in fletestrete at the sygne of the sone By Wynken de Worde.’ This also is undated, and Child says it ‘may be anywhere from 1492 to 1534.’ Recent bibliographical research shows that Wynkyn de Worde moved to Fleet Street at the end of the year 1500, which gives the downward limit; and as the printer died in 1584, theLytell Gestemust beplaced between those dates.1The text is complete save for two lines (7.1and 339.1), which have also dropped from the other early texts. The only known copy is in the Cambridge University Library.
(iii., iv. and v.) Three mutilated printed fragments, containing about thirty-five, seventy, and fifteen stanzas respectively, preserved amongst the Douce fragments in the Bodleian (the last presented by J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps). The first was lent to Ritson in or before 1790 by Farmer, who thought it to be Rastell’s printing; in Ritson’s second edition (1836) he says he gave it to Douce, and states without reason that it is of de Worde’s printing ‘probably in 1489.’
(vi.)A mery geste of Robyn Hoode, etc., a quarto preserved in the British Museum, not dated, but printed ‘at London vpon the thre Crane wharfe by wyllyam Copland,’ who printed there about 1560. This edition also contains ‘a newe playe for to be played in Maye games, very plesaunte and full of pastyme.’
(vii.)A Merry Iest of Robin Hood, etc., printed at London for Edward White; no date, but perhaps the ‘pastorall plesant commedie’ entered to White in the Stationers’ Registers, May 14, 1594. There is a copy of this in the Bodleian, and another was in the Huth Library.
The Texthere given is mainly the Wynkyn de Worde text, except where the earlier Edinburgh fragment is available; the stanzas which the latter preserves are here numbered 1.-83.3, 113.4-124.1, 127.4-133.2, 136.4-208.3, and 314.2-349.3, omitting 2.2,3and7.1. A few variations are recorded in the footnotes, it being unnecessary in the present edition to do more than refer to Child’s laborious collation of all the above texts.
The spelling of the old texts is retained with very few exceptions. The reason for this is that although the original texts were printed in the sixteenth century, the language is of the fifteenth, and a number of Middle English forms remain; these are pointed out by Child, iii. 40, and elaborately classified by W. H. Clawson,The Gest of Robin Hood, 4-5. A possible alternative was to treat theGeston the plan adopted for fifteenth-century texts by E. K. Chambers and the present editor inEarly English Lyrics(1907); but in that book the editors were mostly concerned with texts printed from manuscript, whereas here there is good reason to suspect the existence of a text or texts previous to those now available. For the sounded e (ë) I have mostly followed Child.
TheGestis not a single ballad, but a conglomeration of several, forming a short epic. Ballads representing its component parts are not now extant; although on the other hand there are later ballads founded on certain episodes in theGest. The compiler availed himself of incidents from other traditional sources, but he produced a singularly original tale.
The wordgest, now almost obsolete, is derived through Old French from the Latingesta, ‘deeds’ or ‘exploits.’ But as the word was particularly applied to ‘exploits as narrated or recited,’ there came into use a secondary meaning—that of ‘a story or romantic tale in verse,’ or ‘a metrical chronicle.’ The latter meaning is doubtless intended in the title of theGest of Robyn Hode. A further corruption may be noticed even in the titles of the later texts asgiven above; Copland adds the word ‘mery,’ which thirty years later causes White to print a ‘Merry Jest.’
I have kept the original divisions of the story into eight ‘fyttes,’ but it falls more naturally into three main sections, in each of which a complete story is narrated. These may he distinguished thus:—
1.Robin Hood and the Knight.(Fyttes First, Second, and Fourth.)2.Robin Hood, Little John, and the Sheriff of Nottingham.(Fyttes Third, Fifth, and Sixth.)3.Robin Hood and King Edward.(Fyttes Seventh and Eighth.)
1.Robin Hood and the Knight.(Fyttes First, Second, and Fourth.)
2.Robin Hood, Little John, and the Sheriff of Nottingham.(Fyttes Third, Fifth, and Sixth.)
3.Robin Hood and King Edward.(Fyttes Seventh and Eighth.)
An argument and general notes are prefixed to each fytte.
Argument.—Robin Hood refuses to dine until he finds some guest to provide money for his entertainment. He sends Little John and all his men to bring in any earl, baron, abbot, or knight, to dine with him. They find a knight, and feast him beneath the greenwood tree: but when Robin demands payment, the knight turns out to be in sorry plight, for he has sold all his goods to save his son. On the security of Our Lady, Robin lends him four hundred pounds, and gives him a livery, a horse, a palfrey, boots, spurs, etc., and Little John as squire.
Robin’s unwillingness to dine until he has a guest appears to be a parody of King Arthur’s custom of refusing dinner until he has had an adventure. (See Child, i. 257, note ‡.) The offer of the Virgin as security for a loan is apparently derived from a well-known miracle of Mary, in which a Christian, wishing to borrow money of a Jew, takes him to a church and makes him lay his hand on a statue of the Virgin and Child, praying that, if he fails to return the money on the day fixed to the lender, but gives it to the statue, Christ will return it to the Jew. This miracle eventually takes place, but is attributed rather to the Virgin than to her Son. (See Child, iii. 52.)
1.Mr. Charles Sayle puts it ‘before 1519’ in his catalogue of the early printed books in the University Library.
1.1.1‘Lythe and listin,’ hearken and listen: a very common opening.1.2‘frebore,’ free-born.Lytheand listin, gentilmen,That be of frebore blode;I shall you tel of a gode yeman,His name was Robyn Hode.2.2.2,3‘Whyles . . . outlaw’: supplied from the Wynkyn de Worde text.Robyn was a prude outlaw,Whyles he walked on grounde;So curteyse an outlaw as he was oneWas never non yfounde.3.Robyn stode in Bernesdale,And lenyd hym to a tre;And bi him stode Litell Johnn,A gode yeman was he.4.4.4i.e., worthy of a groom, or young man.And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok,And Much, the miller’s son;There was none ynch of his bodiBut it was worth a grome.5.5.3‘and,’ if.Than bespake Lytell JohnnAll untoo Robyn Hode:‘Maister, and ye wolde dyne betymeIt wolde doo you moche gode.’6.6.4‘unkouth,’ unknown.Than bespake hym gode Robyn:‘To dyne have I noo lust,Till that I have som bolde baron,Or som unkouth gest.7.7.1Wanting in all versions.7.3‘som,’ supplied from Wynken de Worde’s text......‘That may pay for the best,Or some knyght or som squyerThat dwelleth here bi west.’8.8.4‘messis,’ masses.A gode maner than had Robyn:In londe where that he were,Every day or he wold dyneThre messis wolde he here.9.9.4‘allther moste,’ most of all.The one in the worship of the Fader,And another of the Holy Gost,The thirde was of Our dere LadyThat he loved allther moste.10.10.2‘dout,’ fear.Robyn loved Oure dere Lady;For dout of dydly synne,Wolde he never do compani harmeThat any woman was in.11.‘Maistar,’ than sayde Lytil Johnn,‘And we our borde shal sprede,Tell us wheeler that we shall goAnd what life that we shall lede.12.12.3‘reve,’ pillage.‘Where we shall take, where we shall leve,Where we shall abide behynde;Where we shall robbe, where we shall reve,Where we shall bete and bynde.’13.13.1‘no force,’ no matter.‘Thereof no force,’ than sayde Robyn;‘We shall do well inowe;But loke ye do no husbonde harmeThat tilleth with his ploughe.14.‘No more ye shall no gode yemanThat walketh by grene-wode shawe;Ne no knyght ne no squyerThat wol be a gode felawe.15.‘These bisshoppes and these archebishoppes,Ye shall them bete and bynde;The hye sherif of Notyingham,Hym holde ye in your mynde.’16.16.2‘lere,’ learn.16.3‘fer dayes,’ late in the day: ‘gest,’ exploit.‘This worde shalbe holde,’ sayde Lytell Johnn,‘And this lesson we shall lere;It is fer dayes; God sende us a gest,That we were at our dynere.’17.‘Take thy gode bowe in thy honde,’ sayde Robyn;‘Late Much wende with thee;And so shal Willyam Scarlok,And no man abyde with me.18.18.1The Sayles, a small part of the manor of Pontefract.18.2Watling Street = the great North Road.18.4‘Up chaunce,’ in case.‘And walke up to the SaylisAnd so to Watlinge Strete,And wayte after some unkuth gest,Up chaunce ye may them mete.19.19.4‘dight,’ prepared.‘Be he erle, or ani baron,Abbot, or ani knyght,Bringhe hym to lodge to me;His dyner shall be dight.’20.They wente up to the Saylis,These yemen all three;They loked est, they loked weest,They myght no man see.21.21.2‘dernë strete,’ hidden or obscure path.But as they loked in to Bernysdale,Bi a dernë strete,Than came a knyght ridinghe;Full sone they gan hym mete.22.All dreri was his semblaunce,And lytell was his pryde;His one fote in the styrop stode,That othere wavyd beside.23.23.1‘iyn,’ eyes.His hode hanged in his iyn two;He rode in symple aray;A soriar man than he was oneRode never in somer day.24.Litell Johnn was full curteyes,And sette hym on his kne:‘Welcome be ye, gentyll knyght,Welcom ar ye to me.25.25.2‘Hendë,’ noble.‘Welcom be thou to grenë wode,Hendë knyght and fre;My maister hath abiden you fastinge,Syr, al these ourës thre.’26.‘Who is thy maister?’ sayde the knyght;Johnn sayde, ‘Robyn Hode’;‘He is a gode yoman,’ sayde the knyght,‘Of hym I have herde moche gode.27.27.2‘in fere,’ in company.‘I graunte,’ he sayde, ‘with you to wende,My bretherne, all in fere;My purpos was to have dyned to dayAt Blith or Dancastere.’28.28.2‘carefull chere,’ sorrowful face.28.4‘lere,’ cheek.Furth than went this gentyl knight,With a carefull chere;The teris oute of his iyen ran,And fell downe by his lere.29.They brought him to the lodgë-dore;Whan Robyn gan hym see,Full curtesly dyd of his hodeAnd sette hym on his knee.30.‘Welcome, sir knight,’ than sayde Robyn,‘Welcome art thou to me;I have abyden you fastinge, sir,All these ouris thre.’31.31.4‘meynë,’ company.Than answered the gentyll knight,With wordës fayre and fre:‘God thee save, goode Robyn,And all thy fayre meynë.’32.32.4‘noumbles,’ entrails.They wasshed togeder and wyped bothe,And sette to theyr dynere;Brede and wyne they had right ynoughe,And noumbles of the dere.33.Swannes and fessauntes they had full gode,And foules of the ryvere;There fayled none so litell a birdeThat ever was bred on bryre.34.34.1‘Do gladly’ = make yourself at home; a hospitable expression. Cp. 103.1and 232.1.‘Do gladly, sir knight,’ sayde Robyn;‘Gramarcy, sir,’ sayde he;‘Suche a dinere had I natOf all these wekys thre.35.‘If I come ageyne, Robyn,Here by thys contrë,As gode a dyner I shall thee makeAs thou haest made to me.’36.‘Gramarcy, knyght,’ sayde Robyn;‘My dyner whan that I it have,I was never so gredy, by dere worthy God,My dyner for to crave.37.37.1‘or ye wende,’ before you go.‘But pay or ye wende,’ sayde Robyn;‘Me thynketh it is gode ryght;It was never the maner, by dere worthi God,A yoman to pay for a knyght.’38.38.4‘let not,’ leave nothing undone.‘I have nought in my coffers,’ saide the knyght,‘That I may prefer for shame’:‘Litell John, go loke,’ sayde Robyn,‘Ne let not for no blame.39.39.2,4‘have parte of,’ perhaps means ‘protect,’ or ‘take my part.’‘Tel me truth,’ than saide Robyn,‘So God have parte of thee’:‘I have no more but ten shelynges,’ sayde the knyght,‘So God have parte of me.’40.‘If thou have no more,’ sayde Robyn,‘I woll nat one peny;And yf thou have nede of any more,More shall I lend the.41.‘Go nowe furth, Littell Johnn,The truth tell thou me;If there be no more but ten shelinges,No peny that I se.’42.Lyttell Johnn sprede downe hys mantellFull fayre upon the grounde,And there he fonde in the knyghtës coferBut even halfe a pounde.43.Littell Johnn let it lye full styll,And went to hys maysteer full lowe;‘What tydynges, Johnn?’ sayde Robyn;‘Sir, the knyght is true inowe.’44.‘Fyll of the best wine,’ sayde Robyn,‘The knyght shall begynne;Moche wonder thinketh meThy clothynge is so thinne.45.45.3This refers to ‘distraint of knighthood,’ instituted in 1224, compelling military tenants to receive knighthood or pay a composition.‘Tell me one worde,’ sayde Robyn,‘And counsel shal it be;I trowe thou wert made a knyght of force,Or ellys of yemanry.46.46.3‘okerer,’ usurer.‘Or ellys thou hast been a sori husbande,And lyved in stroke and strife;An okerer, or ellis a lechoure,’ sayde Robyn,‘Wyth wronge hast led thy lyfe.’47.‘I am none of those,’ sayde the knyght,‘By God that madë me;An hundred wynter here beforeMyn auncetres knyghtes have be.48.48.2‘disgrate,’ unfortunate.‘But oft it hath befal, Robyn,A man hath be disgrate;But God that sitteth in heven aboveMay amende his state.49.49.4From the rhyme it is obvious the verses have here been confused, especially as all copies print 50.3before 50.2.‘Withyn this two yere, Robyne,’ he sayde,‘My neghbours well it knowe,Foure hundred pounde of gode moneyFul well than myght I spende.50.‘Nowe have I no gode,’ saide the knyght,‘God hath shapen suche an ende,But my chyldren and my wyfe,Tyll God yt may amende.’51.‘In what maner,’ than sayde Robyn,‘Hast thou lorne thy rychesse?’‘For my greate foly,’ he sayde,‘And for my kyndënesse.52.52.4‘just,’ joust, tilt.‘I hade a sone, forsoth, Robyn,That shulde have ben myn ayre,Whanne he was twenty wynter olde,In felde wolde just full fayre.53.53.4, 54.1‘beth’ (in another version ‘both’), are.‘He slewe a knyght of Lancashire,And a squyer bolde;For to save him in his ryghtMy godes beth sette and solde.54.54.1‘sette to wedde,’ put in pledge.‘My londes beth sette to wedde, Robyn,Untyll a certayn day,To a ryche abbot here besydeOf Seynt Mari Abbey.’55.‘What is the som?’ sayde Robyn;‘Trouth than tell thou me.’‘Sir,’ he sayde, ‘foure hundred pounde;The abbot told it to me.’56.56.1‘lese,’ lose.‘Nowe and thou lese thy lond,’ sayde Robyn,‘What shall fall of thee?’‘Hastely I wol me buske,’ sayd the knyght,‘Over the saltë see,57.57.1‘quyke’ = quick, alive.‘And se where Criste was quyke and dede,On the mount of Calverë;Fare wel, frende, and have gode day;It may no better be.’58.Teris fell out of hys iyen two;He wolde have gone hys way;‘Farewel, frende, and have gode day,I ne have no more to pay.’59.59.4‘blowe,’ utter.‘Where be thy frendës?’ sayde Robyn:‘Syr, never one wol me knowe;While I was rych ynowe at homeGreat boste than wolde they blowe.60.60.2‘on a rowe,’ in file.‘And nowe they renne away fro me,As bestis on a rowe;They take no more hede of meThanne they had me never sawe.’61.61.1‘ruthe,’ pity.61.4‘chere,’ entertainment.For ruthe thanne wept Litell Johnn,Scarlok and Much in fere;‘Fyl of the best wyne,’ sayde Robyn,‘For here is a symple chere.62.62.2‘borrowe,’ security.‘Hast thou any frende,’ sayde Robyn,‘Thy borrowe that woldë be?’‘I have none,’ than sayde the knyght,‘But God that dyed on tree.’63.‘Do away thy japis,’ than sayde Robyn,‘Thereof wol I right none;Wenest thou I wolde have God to borowe,Peter, Poule, or Johnn?64.64.2‘shope,’ shaped.‘Nay, by hym that me made,And shope both sonne and mone,Fynde me a better borowe,’ sayde Robyn,‘Or money getest thou none.’65.65.4‘or,’ before.‘I have none other,’ sayde the knyght,‘The sothe for to say,But yf yt be Our dere Lady;She fayled me never or thys day.’66.66.3‘pay,’ liking.‘By dere worthy God,’ sayde Robyn,‘To seche all Englonde thorowe,Yet fonde I never to my payA moche better borowe.67.‘Come nowe furth, Litell Johnn,And go to my tresourë,And bringe me foure hundred pound,And loke well tolde it be.’68.Furth than went Litell Johnn,And Scarlok went before;He tolde oute foure hundred poundeBy eight and twenty score.69.‘Is thys well tolde?’ sayde lytell Much;Johnn sayde: ‘What greveth thee?It is almus to helpe a gentyll knyghtThat is fal in povertë.70.‘Master,’ than sayde Lityll John,‘His clothinge is full thynne;Ye must gyve the knight a lyveray,To lappe his body therein.71.‘For ye have scarlet and grene, mayster,And many a rich aray;Ther is no marchaunt in mery EnglondSo ryche, I dare well say.’72.72.2‘mete,’ measured. So 73.1‘met’ = measured.‘Take hym thre yerdes of every colour,And loke well mete that it be.’Lytell Johnn toke none other mesureBut his bowë-tree.73.And at every handfull that he metHe lepëd fotës three;‘What devylles drapar,’ sayd litell Much,‘Thynkest thou for to be?’74.74.1‘loughe,’ laughed.Scarlok stode full stil and loughe,And sayd, ‘By God Almyght,Johnn may gyve hym gode mesure,For it costeth hym but lyght.’75.‘Mayster,’ than said Litell JohnnTo gentill Robyn Hode,‘Ye must give the knight a horsTo lede home al this gode.’76.‘Take him a gray coursar,’ sayde Robyn,‘And a saydle newe;He is Oure Ladye’s messangere;God graunt that he be true.’77.‘And a gode palfray,’ sayde lytell Much,‘To mayntene hym in his right’;‘And a peyre of botës,’ sayde Scarlok,‘For he is a gentyll knight.’78.78.4‘tene,’ trouble.‘What shalt thou gyve him, Litell John?’‘Sir, a peyre of gilt sporis clene,To pray for all this company;God bringe hym oute of tene.’79.‘Whan shal mi day be,’ said the knight,‘Sir, and your wyll be?’‘This day twelve moneth,’ saide Robyn,‘Under this grene-wode tre.80.‘It were great shamë,’ said Robyn,‘A knight alone to ryde,Withoutë squyre, yoman, or page,To walkë by his syde.81.81.2‘knave,’ servant.81.3i.e., he shall stand for thee instead of a yeoman.‘I shal thee lende Litell Johnn, my man,For he shalbe thy knave;In a yeman’s stede he may thee stande,If thou greate nedë have.’
1.
1.1‘Lythe and listin,’ hearken and listen: a very common opening.
1.2‘frebore,’ free-born.
Lytheand listin, gentilmen,
That be of frebore blode;
I shall you tel of a gode yeman,
His name was Robyn Hode.
2.
2.2,3‘Whyles . . . outlaw’: supplied from the Wynkyn de Worde text.
Robyn was a prude outlaw,
Whyles he walked on grounde;
So curteyse an outlaw as he was one
Was never non yfounde.
3.
Robyn stode in Bernesdale,
And lenyd hym to a tre;
And bi him stode Litell Johnn,
A gode yeman was he.
4.
4.4i.e., worthy of a groom, or young man.
And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok,
And Much, the miller’s son;
There was none ynch of his bodi
But it was worth a grome.
5.
5.3‘and,’ if.
Than bespake Lytell Johnn
All untoo Robyn Hode:
‘Maister, and ye wolde dyne betyme
It wolde doo you moche gode.’
6.
6.4‘unkouth,’ unknown.
Than bespake hym gode Robyn:
‘To dyne have I noo lust,
Till that I have som bolde baron,
Or som unkouth gest.
7.
7.1Wanting in all versions.
7.3‘som,’ supplied from Wynken de Worde’s text.
.....
‘That may pay for the best,
Or some knyght or som squyer
That dwelleth here bi west.’
8.
8.4‘messis,’ masses.
A gode maner than had Robyn:
In londe where that he were,
Every day or he wold dyne
Thre messis wolde he here.
9.
9.4‘allther moste,’ most of all.
The one in the worship of the Fader,
And another of the Holy Gost,
The thirde was of Our dere Lady
That he loved allther moste.
10.
10.2‘dout,’ fear.
Robyn loved Oure dere Lady;
For dout of dydly synne,
Wolde he never do compani harme
That any woman was in.
11.
‘Maistar,’ than sayde Lytil Johnn,
‘And we our borde shal sprede,
Tell us wheeler that we shall go
And what life that we shall lede.
12.
12.3‘reve,’ pillage.
‘Where we shall take, where we shall leve,
Where we shall abide behynde;
Where we shall robbe, where we shall reve,
Where we shall bete and bynde.’
13.
13.1‘no force,’ no matter.
‘Thereof no force,’ than sayde Robyn;
‘We shall do well inowe;
But loke ye do no husbonde harme
That tilleth with his ploughe.
14.
‘No more ye shall no gode yeman
That walketh by grene-wode shawe;
Ne no knyght ne no squyer
That wol be a gode felawe.
15.
‘These bisshoppes and these archebishoppes,
Ye shall them bete and bynde;
The hye sherif of Notyingham,
Hym holde ye in your mynde.’
16.
16.2‘lere,’ learn.
16.3‘fer dayes,’ late in the day: ‘gest,’ exploit.
‘This worde shalbe holde,’ sayde Lytell Johnn,
‘And this lesson we shall lere;
It is fer dayes; God sende us a gest,
That we were at our dynere.’
17.
‘Take thy gode bowe in thy honde,’ sayde Robyn;
‘Late Much wende with thee;
And so shal Willyam Scarlok,
And no man abyde with me.
18.
18.1The Sayles, a small part of the manor of Pontefract.
18.2Watling Street = the great North Road.
18.4‘Up chaunce,’ in case.
‘And walke up to the Saylis
And so to Watlinge Strete,
And wayte after some unkuth gest,
Up chaunce ye may them mete.
19.
19.4‘dight,’ prepared.
‘Be he erle, or ani baron,
Abbot, or ani knyght,
Bringhe hym to lodge to me;
His dyner shall be dight.’
20.
They wente up to the Saylis,
These yemen all three;
They loked est, they loked weest,
They myght no man see.
21.
21.2‘dernë strete,’ hidden or obscure path.
But as they loked in to Bernysdale,
Bi a dernë strete,
Than came a knyght ridinghe;
Full sone they gan hym mete.
22.
All dreri was his semblaunce,
And lytell was his pryde;
His one fote in the styrop stode,
That othere wavyd beside.
23.
23.1‘iyn,’ eyes.
His hode hanged in his iyn two;
He rode in symple aray;
A soriar man than he was one
Rode never in somer day.
24.
Litell Johnn was full curteyes,
And sette hym on his kne:
‘Welcome be ye, gentyll knyght,
Welcom ar ye to me.
25.
25.2‘Hendë,’ noble.
‘Welcom be thou to grenë wode,
Hendë knyght and fre;
My maister hath abiden you fastinge,
Syr, al these ourës thre.’
26.
‘Who is thy maister?’ sayde the knyght;
Johnn sayde, ‘Robyn Hode’;
‘He is a gode yoman,’ sayde the knyght,
‘Of hym I have herde moche gode.
27.
27.2‘in fere,’ in company.
‘I graunte,’ he sayde, ‘with you to wende,
My bretherne, all in fere;
My purpos was to have dyned to day
At Blith or Dancastere.’
28.
28.2‘carefull chere,’ sorrowful face.
28.4‘lere,’ cheek.
Furth than went this gentyl knight,
With a carefull chere;
The teris oute of his iyen ran,
And fell downe by his lere.
29.
They brought him to the lodgë-dore;
Whan Robyn gan hym see,
Full curtesly dyd of his hode
And sette hym on his knee.
30.
‘Welcome, sir knight,’ than sayde Robyn,
‘Welcome art thou to me;
I have abyden you fastinge, sir,
All these ouris thre.’
31.
31.4‘meynë,’ company.
Than answered the gentyll knight,
With wordës fayre and fre:
‘God thee save, goode Robyn,
And all thy fayre meynë.’
32.
32.4‘noumbles,’ entrails.
They wasshed togeder and wyped bothe,
And sette to theyr dynere;
Brede and wyne they had right ynoughe,
And noumbles of the dere.
33.
Swannes and fessauntes they had full gode,
And foules of the ryvere;
There fayled none so litell a birde
That ever was bred on bryre.
34.
34.1‘Do gladly’ = make yourself at home; a hospitable expression. Cp. 103.1and 232.1.
‘Do gladly, sir knight,’ sayde Robyn;
‘Gramarcy, sir,’ sayde he;
‘Suche a dinere had I nat
Of all these wekys thre.
35.
‘If I come ageyne, Robyn,
Here by thys contrë,
As gode a dyner I shall thee make
As thou haest made to me.’
36.
‘Gramarcy, knyght,’ sayde Robyn;
‘My dyner whan that I it have,
I was never so gredy, by dere worthy God,
My dyner for to crave.
37.
37.1‘or ye wende,’ before you go.
‘But pay or ye wende,’ sayde Robyn;
‘Me thynketh it is gode ryght;
It was never the maner, by dere worthi God,
A yoman to pay for a knyght.’
38.
38.4‘let not,’ leave nothing undone.
‘I have nought in my coffers,’ saide the knyght,
‘That I may prefer for shame’:
‘Litell John, go loke,’ sayde Robyn,
‘Ne let not for no blame.
39.
39.2,4‘have parte of,’ perhaps means ‘protect,’ or ‘take my part.’
‘Tel me truth,’ than saide Robyn,
‘So God have parte of thee’:
‘I have no more but ten shelynges,’ sayde the knyght,
‘So God have parte of me.’
40.
‘If thou have no more,’ sayde Robyn,
‘I woll nat one peny;
And yf thou have nede of any more,
More shall I lend the.
41.
‘Go nowe furth, Littell Johnn,
The truth tell thou me;
If there be no more but ten shelinges,
No peny that I se.’
42.
Lyttell Johnn sprede downe hys mantell
Full fayre upon the grounde,
And there he fonde in the knyghtës cofer
But even halfe a pounde.
43.
Littell Johnn let it lye full styll,
And went to hys maysteer full lowe;
‘What tydynges, Johnn?’ sayde Robyn;
‘Sir, the knyght is true inowe.’
44.
‘Fyll of the best wine,’ sayde Robyn,
‘The knyght shall begynne;
Moche wonder thinketh me
Thy clothynge is so thinne.
45.
45.3This refers to ‘distraint of knighthood,’ instituted in 1224, compelling military tenants to receive knighthood or pay a composition.
‘Tell me one worde,’ sayde Robyn,
‘And counsel shal it be;
I trowe thou wert made a knyght of force,
Or ellys of yemanry.
46.
46.3‘okerer,’ usurer.
‘Or ellys thou hast been a sori husbande,
And lyved in stroke and strife;
An okerer, or ellis a lechoure,’ sayde Robyn,
‘Wyth wronge hast led thy lyfe.’
47.
‘I am none of those,’ sayde the knyght,
‘By God that madë me;
An hundred wynter here before
Myn auncetres knyghtes have be.
48.
48.2‘disgrate,’ unfortunate.
‘But oft it hath befal, Robyn,
A man hath be disgrate;
But God that sitteth in heven above
May amende his state.
49.
49.4From the rhyme it is obvious the verses have here been confused, especially as all copies print 50.3before 50.2.
‘Withyn this two yere, Robyne,’ he sayde,
‘My neghbours well it knowe,
Foure hundred pounde of gode money
Ful well than myght I spende.
50.
‘Nowe have I no gode,’ saide the knyght,
‘God hath shapen suche an ende,
But my chyldren and my wyfe,
Tyll God yt may amende.’
51.
‘In what maner,’ than sayde Robyn,
‘Hast thou lorne thy rychesse?’
‘For my greate foly,’ he sayde,
‘And for my kyndënesse.
52.
52.4‘just,’ joust, tilt.
‘I hade a sone, forsoth, Robyn,
That shulde have ben myn ayre,
Whanne he was twenty wynter olde,
In felde wolde just full fayre.
53.
53.4, 54.1‘beth’ (in another version ‘both’), are.
‘He slewe a knyght of Lancashire,
And a squyer bolde;
For to save him in his ryght
My godes beth sette and solde.
54.
54.1‘sette to wedde,’ put in pledge.
‘My londes beth sette to wedde, Robyn,
Untyll a certayn day,
To a ryche abbot here besyde
Of Seynt Mari Abbey.’
55.
‘What is the som?’ sayde Robyn;
‘Trouth than tell thou me.’
‘Sir,’ he sayde, ‘foure hundred pounde;
The abbot told it to me.’
56.
56.1‘lese,’ lose.
‘Nowe and thou lese thy lond,’ sayde Robyn,
‘What shall fall of thee?’
‘Hastely I wol me buske,’ sayd the knyght,
‘Over the saltë see,
57.
57.1‘quyke’ = quick, alive.
‘And se where Criste was quyke and dede,
On the mount of Calverë;
Fare wel, frende, and have gode day;
It may no better be.’
58.
Teris fell out of hys iyen two;
He wolde have gone hys way;
‘Farewel, frende, and have gode day,
I ne have no more to pay.’
59.
59.4‘blowe,’ utter.
‘Where be thy frendës?’ sayde Robyn:
‘Syr, never one wol me knowe;
While I was rych ynowe at home
Great boste than wolde they blowe.
60.
60.2‘on a rowe,’ in file.
‘And nowe they renne away fro me,
As bestis on a rowe;
They take no more hede of me
Thanne they had me never sawe.’
61.
61.1‘ruthe,’ pity.
61.4‘chere,’ entertainment.
For ruthe thanne wept Litell Johnn,
Scarlok and Much in fere;
‘Fyl of the best wyne,’ sayde Robyn,
‘For here is a symple chere.
62.
62.2‘borrowe,’ security.
‘Hast thou any frende,’ sayde Robyn,
‘Thy borrowe that woldë be?’
‘I have none,’ than sayde the knyght,
‘But God that dyed on tree.’
63.
‘Do away thy japis,’ than sayde Robyn,
‘Thereof wol I right none;
Wenest thou I wolde have God to borowe,
Peter, Poule, or Johnn?
64.
64.2‘shope,’ shaped.
‘Nay, by hym that me made,
And shope both sonne and mone,
Fynde me a better borowe,’ sayde Robyn,
‘Or money getest thou none.’
65.
65.4‘or,’ before.
‘I have none other,’ sayde the knyght,
‘The sothe for to say,
But yf yt be Our dere Lady;
She fayled me never or thys day.’
66.
66.3‘pay,’ liking.
‘By dere worthy God,’ sayde Robyn,
‘To seche all Englonde thorowe,
Yet fonde I never to my pay
A moche better borowe.
67.
‘Come nowe furth, Litell Johnn,
And go to my tresourë,
And bringe me foure hundred pound,
And loke well tolde it be.’
68.
Furth than went Litell Johnn,
And Scarlok went before;
He tolde oute foure hundred pounde
By eight and twenty score.
69.
‘Is thys well tolde?’ sayde lytell Much;
Johnn sayde: ‘What greveth thee?
It is almus to helpe a gentyll knyght
That is fal in povertë.
70.
‘Master,’ than sayde Lityll John,
‘His clothinge is full thynne;
Ye must gyve the knight a lyveray,
To lappe his body therein.
71.
‘For ye have scarlet and grene, mayster,
And many a rich aray;
Ther is no marchaunt in mery Englond
So ryche, I dare well say.’
72.
72.2‘mete,’ measured. So 73.1‘met’ = measured.
‘Take hym thre yerdes of every colour,
And loke well mete that it be.’
Lytell Johnn toke none other mesure
But his bowë-tree.
73.
And at every handfull that he met
He lepëd fotës three;
‘What devylles drapar,’ sayd litell Much,
‘Thynkest thou for to be?’
74.
74.1‘loughe,’ laughed.
Scarlok stode full stil and loughe,
And sayd, ‘By God Almyght,
Johnn may gyve hym gode mesure,
For it costeth hym but lyght.’
75.
‘Mayster,’ than said Litell Johnn
To gentill Robyn Hode,
‘Ye must give the knight a hors
To lede home al this gode.’
76.
‘Take him a gray coursar,’ sayde Robyn,
‘And a saydle newe;
He is Oure Ladye’s messangere;
God graunt that he be true.’
77.
‘And a gode palfray,’ sayde lytell Much,
‘To mayntene hym in his right’;
‘And a peyre of botës,’ sayde Scarlok,
‘For he is a gentyll knight.’
78.
78.4‘tene,’ trouble.
‘What shalt thou gyve him, Litell John?’
‘Sir, a peyre of gilt sporis clene,
To pray for all this company;
God bringe hym oute of tene.’
79.
‘Whan shal mi day be,’ said the knight,
‘Sir, and your wyll be?’
‘This day twelve moneth,’ saide Robyn,
‘Under this grene-wode tre.
80.
‘It were great shamë,’ said Robyn,
‘A knight alone to ryde,
Withoutë squyre, yoman, or page,
To walkë by his syde.
81.
81.2‘knave,’ servant.
81.3i.e., he shall stand for thee instead of a yeoman.
‘I shal thee lende Litell Johnn, my man,
For he shalbe thy knave;
In a yeman’s stede he may thee stande,
If thou greate nedë have.’
Argument.—The knight goes to York to pay down his four hundred pounds to the abbot of St. Mary Abbey, who has retained the services of the high justice of England ‘with cloth and fee,’ an offence defined as conspiracy by statutes of the first three Edwards (seeNotes and Queries, First Series, vol. vi. p. 479). The knight, pretending he has not brought the money, requests an extension of time; but the abbot will not hear of it, and is supported in his refusal by the justice: the knight’s lands will be forfeited. The justice advises the abbot (117, etc.) to give the knight a sum to ‘make a release’ and prevent subsequent legal difficulties. The knight brings the matter to an end by paying down the four hundred pounds, saying that had the abbot been more courteous, he should have had interest on the loan.
The knight returns to his home in Wyresdale, and saves up the sum to be repaid to Robin Hood. As he sets out for Barnsdale with a goodly company, he finds a great wrestling-match taking place at Wentbridge,2which delays him a while.
The word ‘frembde’ (138.3) is now obsolete except in Scots and north-country dialect, and is spelled in various ways. It occurs more than once in Chaucer, and twice in Sidney’sArcadia. ‘Fremit,’ the common Scots form, may be found in Burns. Morerecently, it appears in books of Westmoreland, Cumberland, or Northumberland dialect. Cp. Mrs. Gaskell,Sylvia’s Lovers: ‘There’s a fremd man i’ t’ house.’ It means ‘foreign’ or ‘strange.’
2.Wentbridge is mentioned inRobin Hood and the Potter, 6.1. The river Went is the northern boundary of Barnsdale.
82.Nowis the knight gone on his way;This game hym thought full gode;Whanne he loked on BernësdaleHe blessyd Robyn Hode.83.83.4From here to 118.3the Edinburgh fragment is wanting.And whanne he thought on Bernysdale,On Scarlok, Much and JohnnHe blyssyd them for the best companyThat ever he in come.84.Then spake that gentyll knyght,To Lytel Johan gan he saye,‘To-morrowe I must to Yorke toune,To Saynt Mary abbay.85.‘And to the abbot of that placeFoure hondred pounde I must pay;And but I be there upon this nyghtMy londe is lost for ay.’86.86.1‘covent’ = convent.The abbot sayd to his covent,There he stode on grounde,‘This day twelfe moneth came there a knyghtAnd borowed foure hondred pounde.87.87.1Wanting: supplied by Ritson.87.3‘But,’ unless: ‘ylkë,’ same.[‘He borowed four hondred pounde]Upon all his londë fre;But he come this ylkë dayDisherited shall he be.’88.88.3‘lever,’ rather.‘It is full erely,’ sayd the pryoure,The day is not yet ferre gone;I had lever to pay an hondred pounde,And lay downe anone.89.‘The knyght is ferre beyonde the see,In Englonde is his ryght,And suffreth honger and coldeAnd many a sory nyght.90.‘It were grete pytë,’ said the pryoure,‘So to have his londe;And ye be so lyght of your consyence,Ye do to hym moch wronge.’91.91.4‘selerer’ cellarer or steward.‘Thou arte ever in my berde,’ sayd the abbot,‘By God and Saynt Rycharde’;With that cam in a fat-heded monke,The heygh selerer.92.92.2‘bought,’ ransomed.‘He is dede or hanged,’ sayd the monke,‘By God that bought me dere,And we shall have to spende in this placeFoure hondred pounde by yere.’93.93.3‘highe,’ supplied from Copland’s edition.The abbot and the hy selererStertë forthe full bolde,The highe justyce of EnglondeThe abbot there dyde holde.94.The hye justyce and many moHad take in to theyr hondeHoly all the knyghtës det,To put that knyght to wronge.95.95.1‘demed,’ judged.95.4‘dysheryte,’ dispossessed; cf. 87.4.They demed the knyght wonder sore,The abbot and his meynë:‘But he come this ylkë dayDysheryte shall he be.’96.‘He wyll not come yet,’ sayd the justyce,‘I dare well undertake’;But in sorowe tymë for them allThe knight came to the gate.97.Than bespake that gentyll knyghtUntyll his meynë:‘Now put on your symple wedesThat ye brought fro the see.’98.98.Wanting in all editions: supplied by Ritson.[They put on their symple wedes,]They came to the gates anone;The porter was redy hymselfeAnd welcomed them everychone.99.‘Welcome, syr knyght,’ sayd the porter,‘My lorde to mete is he,And so is many a gentyll man,For the love of thee.’100.100.3‘coresed,’ perhaps = coursed;i.e.a horse used in tourneys, a courser, or charger.The porter swore a full grete othe:‘By God that madë me,Here be the best coresed horsThat ever yet sawe I me.101.‘Lede them in to the stable,’ he sayd,‘That eased myght they be’;‘They shall not come therin,’ sayd the knyght,‘By God that dyed on a tre.’102.102.4‘salved,’ greeted.Lordës were to mete isetteIn that abbotes hall;The knyght went forth and kneled down,And salved them grete and small.103.103.1See 34.1.‘Do gladly, syr abbot,’ sayd the knyght,‘I am come to holde my day.’The fyrst word that the abbot spake,‘Hast thou brought my pay?’104.104.3‘shrewed,’ cursed.‘Not one peny,’ sayd the knyght,‘By God that makëd me.’‘Thou art a shrewed dettour,’ sayd the abbot;‘Syr justyce, drynke to me.105.105.2‘But,’ unless. So 111.3‘What doost thou here,’ sayd the abbot,‘But thou haddest brought thy pay?’‘For God,’ than sayd the knyght,‘To pray of a lenger daye.’106.106.4‘fone,’ foes.‘Thy daye is broke,’ sayd the justyce,‘Londë getest thou none.’‘Now, good syr justyce, be my frendeAnd fende me of my fone!’107.107.1,2‘retained by presents of cloth and money.’ —Child.‘I am holde with the abbot,’ sayd the justyce,‘Both with cloth and fee.’‘Now, good syr sheryf, be my frende!’‘Nay, for God,’ sayd he.108.108.4‘made the gree,’ paid my dues. (Old Frenchgre, Latingratum.)‘Now, good syr abbot, be my frende,For thy curteysë,And holde my londës in thy hondeTyll I have made the gree!109.‘And I wyll be thy true servaunte,And trewely serve the,Tyll ye have foure hondred poundeOf money good and free.’110.The abbot sware a full grete othe,‘By God that dyed on a tree,Get the londë where thou may,For thou getest none of me.’111.‘By dere worthy God,’ then sayd the knyght,‘That all this worldë wrought,But I have my londe agayne,Full dere it shall be bought.112.112.2‘Leve,’ grant.112.4‘Or that,’ before that. The proverb is a favourite in Middle English: seeEarly English Lyrics,CXI.‘God, that was of a mayden borne,Leve us well to spede!For it is good to assay a frendeOr that a man have nede.’113.The abbot lothely on hym gan loke,And vylaynesly hym gan call;‘Out,’ he sayd, ‘thou false knyght,Spede thee out of my hall!’114.‘Thou lyest,’ then sayd the gentyll knyght,‘Abbot, in thy hal;False knyght was I never,By God that made us all.’115.Up then stode that gentyll knyght,To the abbot sayd he,‘To suffre a knyght to knele so longe,Thou canst no curteysye.116.116.3‘as ferre in prees,’ in as thick a part of the fight.‘In joustës and in tournementFull ferre than have I be,And put myself as ferre in preesAs ony that ever I se.’117.‘What wyll ye gyve more,’ sayd the justyce,‘And the knyght shall make a releyse?And ellës dare I safly swereYe holde never your londe in pees.’118.118.4From here to 124.1the Edinburgh fragment is available.‘An hondred pounde,’ sayd the abbot;The justice sayd, ‘Gyve hym two’;‘Nay, be God,’ sayd the knyght,‘Yit gete ye it not so.119.119.2‘nere,’ nearer. Cp.Robin Hood and the Potter, 46.3.‘Though ye wolde gyve a thousand more,Yet were ye never the nere;Shal there never be myn heyreAbbot, justice, ne frere.’120.He stert hym to a borde anone,Tyll a table rounde,And there he shoke oute of a baggeEven four hundred pound.121.‘Have here thi golde, sir abbot,’ saide the knight,‘Which that thou lentest me;Had thou ben curtes at my comynge,Rewarded shuldest thou have be.’122.The abbot sat styll, and ete no more,For all his ryall fare;He cast his hede on his shulder,And fast began to stare.123.123.2‘toke,’ gave.‘Take me my golde agayne,’ saide the abbot,‘Sir justice, that I toke thee.’‘Not a peni,’ said the justice,‘Bi God, that dyed on tree.’124.‘Sir abbot, and ye men of lawe,Now have I holde my daye:Now shall I have my londe agayne,For ought that you can saye.’125.The knyght stert out of the dore,Awaye was all his care,And on he put his good clothynge,The other he lefte there.126.126.4‘Verysdale,’ Wyresdale or Wyersdale.He wente hym forth full mery syngynge,As men have tolde in tale;His lady met hym at the gate,At home in Verysdale.127.127.4The Edinburgh fragment is again available as far as 133.2.‘Welcome, my lorde,’ sayd his lady;‘Syr, lost is all your good?’‘Be mery, dame,’ sayd the knyght,‘And pray for Robyn Hode,128.128.2‘tene,’ trouble.‘That ever his soulë be in blysse:He holpe me out of tene;Ne had be his kyndënesse,Beggers had we bene.129.‘The abbot and I accorded ben,He is served of his pay;The god yoman lent it meAs I cam by the way.’130.This knight than dwelled fayre at home,The sothë for to saye,Tyll he had gete four hundred pound,Al redy for to pay.131.131.2‘ydyght,’ fitted.He purveyed him an hundred bowes,The stryngës well ydyght,An hundred shefe of arowes gode,The hedys burneshed full bryght;132.132.3‘Inocked’ = i-nocked, notched.And every arowe an ellë longe,With pecok well idyght,Inocked all with whyte silver;It was a semely syght.133.133.1,2The latter halves of these lines are torn away in the Edinburgh fragment. The Cambridge text is resumed at 133.3.133.2‘stede,’ place.He purveyed him an hondreth men,Well harnessed in that stede,And hym selfe in that same sete,And clothed in whyte and rede.134.134.1‘launsgay,’ javelin.134.2‘male,’ baggage. Cp. 374.1.He bare a launsgay in his honde,And a man ledde his male,And reden with a lyght songeUnto Bernysdale.135.135.1So the Cambridge text: Child suggests ‘? But at Wentbrydge ther was.’ See Argument.But as he went at a brydge ther was a wrastelyng,And there taryed was he,And there was all the best yemenOf all the west countree.136.136.2‘i-pyght,’ put.136.4Edinburgh fragment again.A full fayre game there was up set,A whyte bulle up i-pyght,A grete courser, with sadle and brydil,With golde burnyssht full bryght.137.A payre of gloves, a rede golde rynge,A pype of wyne, in fay;What man that bereth hym best i-wysThe pryce shall bere away.138.138.3‘frembde bested,’ in the position of a foreigner or stranger. See fore-note.There was a yoman in that place,And best worthy was he,And for he was ferre and frembde bested,Slayne he shulde have be.139.The knight had ruthe of this yoman,In placë where that he stode;He sayde that yoman shulde have no harme,For love of Robyn Hode.140.140.2‘free,’ supplied from the ‘fere,’ misprinted in the Cambridge text. Copland, ‘in fere.’140.4‘shende,’ put to rout.The knyght presed in to the place,An hundreth folowed hym [free],With bowes bent and arowes sharpe,For to shende that companye.141.141.1‘rome,’ room.They shulderd all and made hym rome,To wete what he wolde say;He took the yeman bi the hande,And gave hym al the play.142.He gave hym five marke for his wyne,There it lay on the molde,And bad it shulde be set a broche,Drynkë who so wolde.143.Thus longe taried this gentyll knyght,Tyll that play was done;So long abode Robyn fastingeThre hourës after the none.
82.
Nowis the knight gone on his way;
This game hym thought full gode;
Whanne he loked on Bernësdale
He blessyd Robyn Hode.
83.
83.4From here to 118.3the Edinburgh fragment is wanting.
And whanne he thought on Bernysdale,
On Scarlok, Much and Johnn
He blyssyd them for the best company
That ever he in come.
84.
Then spake that gentyll knyght,
To Lytel Johan gan he saye,
‘To-morrowe I must to Yorke toune,
To Saynt Mary abbay.
85.
‘And to the abbot of that place
Foure hondred pounde I must pay;
And but I be there upon this nyght
My londe is lost for ay.’
86.
86.1‘covent’ = convent.
The abbot sayd to his covent,
There he stode on grounde,
‘This day twelfe moneth came there a knyght
And borowed foure hondred pounde.
87.
87.1Wanting: supplied by Ritson.
87.3‘But,’ unless: ‘ylkë,’ same.
[‘He borowed four hondred pounde]
Upon all his londë fre;
But he come this ylkë day
Disherited shall he be.’
88.
88.3‘lever,’ rather.
‘It is full erely,’ sayd the pryoure,
The day is not yet ferre gone;
I had lever to pay an hondred pounde,
And lay downe anone.
89.
‘The knyght is ferre beyonde the see,
In Englonde is his ryght,
And suffreth honger and colde
And many a sory nyght.
90.
‘It were grete pytë,’ said the pryoure,
‘So to have his londe;
And ye be so lyght of your consyence,
Ye do to hym moch wronge.’
91.
91.4‘selerer’ cellarer or steward.
‘Thou arte ever in my berde,’ sayd the abbot,
‘By God and Saynt Rycharde’;
With that cam in a fat-heded monke,
The heygh selerer.
92.
92.2‘bought,’ ransomed.
‘He is dede or hanged,’ sayd the monke,
‘By God that bought me dere,
And we shall have to spende in this place
Foure hondred pounde by yere.’
93.
93.3‘highe,’ supplied from Copland’s edition.
The abbot and the hy selerer
Stertë forthe full bolde,
The highe justyce of Englonde
The abbot there dyde holde.
94.
The hye justyce and many mo
Had take in to theyr honde
Holy all the knyghtës det,
To put that knyght to wronge.
95.
95.1‘demed,’ judged.
95.4‘dysheryte,’ dispossessed; cf. 87.4.
They demed the knyght wonder sore,
The abbot and his meynë:
‘But he come this ylkë day
Dysheryte shall he be.’
96.
‘He wyll not come yet,’ sayd the justyce,
‘I dare well undertake’;
But in sorowe tymë for them all
The knight came to the gate.
97.
Than bespake that gentyll knyght
Untyll his meynë:
‘Now put on your symple wedes
That ye brought fro the see.’
98.
98.Wanting in all editions: supplied by Ritson.
[They put on their symple wedes,]
They came to the gates anone;
The porter was redy hymselfe
And welcomed them everychone.
99.
‘Welcome, syr knyght,’ sayd the porter,
‘My lorde to mete is he,
And so is many a gentyll man,
For the love of thee.’
100.
100.3‘coresed,’ perhaps = coursed;i.e.a horse used in tourneys, a courser, or charger.
The porter swore a full grete othe:
‘By God that madë me,
Here be the best coresed hors
That ever yet sawe I me.
101.
‘Lede them in to the stable,’ he sayd,
‘That eased myght they be’;
‘They shall not come therin,’ sayd the knyght,
‘By God that dyed on a tre.’
102.
102.4‘salved,’ greeted.
Lordës were to mete isette
In that abbotes hall;
The knyght went forth and kneled down,
And salved them grete and small.
103.
103.1See 34.1.
‘Do gladly, syr abbot,’ sayd the knyght,
‘I am come to holde my day.’
The fyrst word that the abbot spake,
‘Hast thou brought my pay?’
104.
104.3‘shrewed,’ cursed.
‘Not one peny,’ sayd the knyght,
‘By God that makëd me.’
‘Thou art a shrewed dettour,’ sayd the abbot;
‘Syr justyce, drynke to me.
105.
105.2‘But,’ unless. So 111.3
‘What doost thou here,’ sayd the abbot,
‘But thou haddest brought thy pay?’
‘For God,’ than sayd the knyght,
‘To pray of a lenger daye.’
106.
106.4‘fone,’ foes.
‘Thy daye is broke,’ sayd the justyce,
‘Londë getest thou none.’
‘Now, good syr justyce, be my frende
And fende me of my fone!’
107.
107.1,2‘retained by presents of cloth and money.’ —Child.
‘I am holde with the abbot,’ sayd the justyce,
‘Both with cloth and fee.’
‘Now, good syr sheryf, be my frende!’
‘Nay, for God,’ sayd he.
108.
108.4‘made the gree,’ paid my dues. (Old Frenchgre, Latingratum.)
‘Now, good syr abbot, be my frende,
For thy curteysë,
And holde my londës in thy honde
Tyll I have made the gree!
109.
‘And I wyll be thy true servaunte,
And trewely serve the,
Tyll ye have foure hondred pounde
Of money good and free.’
110.
The abbot sware a full grete othe,
‘By God that dyed on a tree,
Get the londë where thou may,
For thou getest none of me.’
111.
‘By dere worthy God,’ then sayd the knyght,
‘That all this worldë wrought,
But I have my londe agayne,
Full dere it shall be bought.
112.
112.2‘Leve,’ grant.
112.4‘Or that,’ before that. The proverb is a favourite in Middle English: seeEarly English Lyrics,CXI.
‘God, that was of a mayden borne,
Leve us well to spede!
For it is good to assay a frende
Or that a man have nede.’
113.
The abbot lothely on hym gan loke,
And vylaynesly hym gan call;
‘Out,’ he sayd, ‘thou false knyght,
Spede thee out of my hall!’
114.
‘Thou lyest,’ then sayd the gentyll knyght,
‘Abbot, in thy hal;
False knyght was I never,
By God that made us all.’
115.
Up then stode that gentyll knyght,
To the abbot sayd he,
‘To suffre a knyght to knele so longe,
Thou canst no curteysye.
116.
116.3‘as ferre in prees,’ in as thick a part of the fight.
‘In joustës and in tournement
Full ferre than have I be,
And put myself as ferre in prees
As ony that ever I se.’
117.
‘What wyll ye gyve more,’ sayd the justyce,
‘And the knyght shall make a releyse?
And ellës dare I safly swere
Ye holde never your londe in pees.’
118.
118.4From here to 124.1the Edinburgh fragment is available.
‘An hondred pounde,’ sayd the abbot;
The justice sayd, ‘Gyve hym two’;
‘Nay, be God,’ sayd the knyght,
‘Yit gete ye it not so.
119.
119.2‘nere,’ nearer. Cp.Robin Hood and the Potter, 46.3.
‘Though ye wolde gyve a thousand more,
Yet were ye never the nere;
Shal there never be myn heyre
Abbot, justice, ne frere.’
120.
He stert hym to a borde anone,
Tyll a table rounde,
And there he shoke oute of a bagge
Even four hundred pound.
121.
‘Have here thi golde, sir abbot,’ saide the knight,
‘Which that thou lentest me;
Had thou ben curtes at my comynge,
Rewarded shuldest thou have be.’
122.
The abbot sat styll, and ete no more,
For all his ryall fare;
He cast his hede on his shulder,
And fast began to stare.
123.
123.2‘toke,’ gave.
‘Take me my golde agayne,’ saide the abbot,
‘Sir justice, that I toke thee.’
‘Not a peni,’ said the justice,
‘Bi God, that dyed on tree.’
124.
‘Sir abbot, and ye men of lawe,
Now have I holde my daye:
Now shall I have my londe agayne,
For ought that you can saye.’
125.
The knyght stert out of the dore,
Awaye was all his care,
And on he put his good clothynge,
The other he lefte there.
126.
126.4‘Verysdale,’ Wyresdale or Wyersdale.
He wente hym forth full mery syngynge,
As men have tolde in tale;
His lady met hym at the gate,
At home in Verysdale.
127.
127.4The Edinburgh fragment is again available as far as 133.2.
‘Welcome, my lorde,’ sayd his lady;
‘Syr, lost is all your good?’
‘Be mery, dame,’ sayd the knyght,
‘And pray for Robyn Hode,
128.
128.2‘tene,’ trouble.
‘That ever his soulë be in blysse:
He holpe me out of tene;
Ne had be his kyndënesse,
Beggers had we bene.
129.
‘The abbot and I accorded ben,
He is served of his pay;
The god yoman lent it me
As I cam by the way.’
130.
This knight than dwelled fayre at home,
The sothë for to saye,
Tyll he had gete four hundred pound,
Al redy for to pay.
131.
131.2‘ydyght,’ fitted.
He purveyed him an hundred bowes,
The stryngës well ydyght,
An hundred shefe of arowes gode,
The hedys burneshed full bryght;
132.
132.3‘Inocked’ = i-nocked, notched.
And every arowe an ellë longe,
With pecok well idyght,
Inocked all with whyte silver;
It was a semely syght.
133.
133.1,2The latter halves of these lines are torn away in the Edinburgh fragment. The Cambridge text is resumed at 133.3.
133.2‘stede,’ place.
He purveyed him an hondreth men,
Well harnessed in that stede,
And hym selfe in that same sete,
And clothed in whyte and rede.
134.
134.1‘launsgay,’ javelin.
134.2‘male,’ baggage. Cp. 374.1.
He bare a launsgay in his honde,
And a man ledde his male,
And reden with a lyght songe
Unto Bernysdale.
135.
135.1So the Cambridge text: Child suggests ‘? But at Wentbrydge ther was.’ See Argument.
But as he went at a brydge ther was a wrastelyng,
And there taryed was he,
And there was all the best yemen
Of all the west countree.
136.
136.2‘i-pyght,’ put.
136.4Edinburgh fragment again.
A full fayre game there was up set,
A whyte bulle up i-pyght,
A grete courser, with sadle and brydil,
With golde burnyssht full bryght.
137.
A payre of gloves, a rede golde rynge,
A pype of wyne, in fay;
What man that bereth hym best i-wys
The pryce shall bere away.
138.
138.3‘frembde bested,’ in the position of a foreigner or stranger. See fore-note.
There was a yoman in that place,
And best worthy was he,
And for he was ferre and frembde bested,
Slayne he shulde have be.
139.
The knight had ruthe of this yoman,
In placë where that he stode;
He sayde that yoman shulde have no harme,
For love of Robyn Hode.
140.
140.2‘free,’ supplied from the ‘fere,’ misprinted in the Cambridge text. Copland, ‘in fere.’
140.4‘shende,’ put to rout.
The knyght presed in to the place,
An hundreth folowed hym [free],
With bowes bent and arowes sharpe,
For to shende that companye.
141.
141.1‘rome,’ room.
They shulderd all and made hym rome,
To wete what he wolde say;
He took the yeman bi the hande,
And gave hym al the play.
142.
He gave hym five marke for his wyne,
There it lay on the molde,
And bad it shulde be set a broche,
Drynkë who so wolde.
143.
Thus longe taried this gentyll knyght,
Tyll that play was done;
So long abode Robyn fastinge
Thre hourës after the none.
Argument.—The narrative of the knight’s loan is for the moment dropped, in order to relate a gest of Little John, who is now (81.2) the knight’s ‘knave’ or squire. Going forth ‘upon a mery day,’ Little John shoots with such skill that he attracts the attention of the Sheriff of Nottingham (who is here and elsewhere the type of Robin Hood’s enemies), and enters his service for a year under the name of Reynold Greenleaf. While the sheriff is hunting, Little John fights his servants, robs his treasure-house, and escapes back to Robin Hood with ‘three hundred pound and more.’ He then bethinks him of a shrewd wile, and inveigles the sheriff to leave his hunting in order to see a right fair hart and seven score of deer, which turn out to be Robin and his men. Robin Hood exacts an oath of the sheriff, equivalent to an armistice; and he returns home, having had his fill of the greenwood.