1By Lands-dale hey ho,By mery Lands-dale hey ho,There dwelt a jolly miller,And a very good old man was he, hey ho.2He had, he had and a sonne a,Men called him Renold,And mickle of his mightWas he, was he, hey ho.3And from his father a wode a,His fortune for to seeke,From mery Lands-daleWode he, wode he, hey ho.4His father would him seeke a,And found him fast a sleepe;Among the leaves greeneWas he, was he, hey ho.5He tooke, he tooke him up a,All by the lilly-white hand,And set him on his feet,And bad him stand, hey ho.6He gave to him a benbow,Made all of a trusty tree,And arrowës in his hand,And bad him let them flee.7And shoote was that that a did a,Some say he shot a mile,But halfe a mile and moreWas it, was it, hey ho.8And at the halfe miles end,There stood an armed man;The childe he shot him through,And through and through, hey ho.[76]9His beard was all on a white a,As white as whale is bone,His eyes they were as cleareAs christall stone, hey ho.10And there of him they madeGood yeoman, Robin Rood,Scarlet, and Little John,And Little John, hey ho.
1By Lands-dale hey ho,By mery Lands-dale hey ho,There dwelt a jolly miller,And a very good old man was he, hey ho.2He had, he had and a sonne a,Men called him Renold,And mickle of his mightWas he, was he, hey ho.3And from his father a wode a,His fortune for to seeke,From mery Lands-daleWode he, wode he, hey ho.4His father would him seeke a,And found him fast a sleepe;Among the leaves greeneWas he, was he, hey ho.5He tooke, he tooke him up a,All by the lilly-white hand,And set him on his feet,And bad him stand, hey ho.6He gave to him a benbow,Made all of a trusty tree,And arrowës in his hand,And bad him let them flee.7And shoote was that that a did a,Some say he shot a mile,But halfe a mile and moreWas it, was it, hey ho.8And at the halfe miles end,There stood an armed man;The childe he shot him through,And through and through, hey ho.[76]9His beard was all on a white a,As white as whale is bone,His eyes they were as cleareAs christall stone, hey ho.10And there of him they madeGood yeoman, Robin Rood,Scarlet, and Little John,And Little John, hey ho.
1By Lands-dale hey ho,By mery Lands-dale hey ho,There dwelt a jolly miller,And a very good old man was he, hey ho.
1
By Lands-dale hey ho,
By mery Lands-dale hey ho,
There dwelt a jolly miller,
And a very good old man was he, hey ho.
2He had, he had and a sonne a,Men called him Renold,And mickle of his mightWas he, was he, hey ho.
2
He had, he had and a sonne a,
Men called him Renold,
And mickle of his might
Was he, was he, hey ho.
3And from his father a wode a,His fortune for to seeke,From mery Lands-daleWode he, wode he, hey ho.
3
And from his father a wode a,
His fortune for to seeke,
From mery Lands-dale
Wode he, wode he, hey ho.
4His father would him seeke a,And found him fast a sleepe;Among the leaves greeneWas he, was he, hey ho.
4
His father would him seeke a,
And found him fast a sleepe;
Among the leaves greene
Was he, was he, hey ho.
5He tooke, he tooke him up a,All by the lilly-white hand,And set him on his feet,And bad him stand, hey ho.
5
He tooke, he tooke him up a,
All by the lilly-white hand,
And set him on his feet,
And bad him stand, hey ho.
6He gave to him a benbow,Made all of a trusty tree,And arrowës in his hand,And bad him let them flee.
6
He gave to him a benbow,
Made all of a trusty tree,
And arrowës in his hand,
And bad him let them flee.
7And shoote was that that a did a,Some say he shot a mile,But halfe a mile and moreWas it, was it, hey ho.
7
And shoote was that that a did a,
Some say he shot a mile,
But halfe a mile and more
Was it, was it, hey ho.
8And at the halfe miles end,There stood an armed man;The childe he shot him through,And through and through, hey ho.[76]
8
And at the halfe miles end,
There stood an armed man;
The childe he shot him through,
And through and through, hey ho.[76]
9His beard was all on a white a,As white as whale is bone,His eyes they were as cleareAs christall stone, hey ho.
9
His beard was all on a white a,
As white as whale is bone,
His eyes they were as cleare
As christall stone, hey ho.
10And there of him they madeGood yeoman, Robin Rood,Scarlet, and Little John,And Little John, hey ho.
10
And there of him they made
Good yeoman, Robin Rood,
Scarlet, and Little John,
And Little John, hey ho.
302–05. The Klepht Giphtakis, wounded in knee and hand, exclaims: Where are you, my brother, my friend? Come back and take me off, or take off my head, lest the Turk should do so, and carry it to that dog of an Ali Pacha. (1790. Fauriel, I, 20; Zambelios, p. 621, No 32; Passow, p. 52, No 61.)
357–59. The king traverses the whole length of Lancashire and proceeds to Plumpton Park, missing many of his deer. Camden, Britannia, II, 175, ed. 1772, places Plumpton Park on the bank of the Petterel, in Cumberland,east of Inglewood. (Hunter, p. 30, citing no authority, says it was part of the forest of Knaresborough, in Yorkshire.) Since this survey makes the king wroth with Robin Hood, we must give a corresponding extent to Robin’s operations. And we remember that Wyntoun says that he exercised his profession in Inglewood and Barnsdale.
371 ff. The story of the seventh fit has a general similitude to the extensive class of tales, mostly jocular, represented by ‘The King and the Miller;’ as to which, see further on.
403–09. The sport of “pluck-buffet” (4243) is a feature in the romance of Richard Cœur de Lion, 762–98, Weber, II, 33 f. Richard is betrayed to the king of Almayne by a minstrel to whom he had given a cold reception, and is put in prison. The king’s son, held the strongest man of the land, visits the prisoner, and proposes to him an exchange of this sort. The prince gives Richard a clout which makes fire spring from his eyes, and goes off laughing, ordering Richard to be well fed, so that he may have no excuse for returning a feeble blow when he takes his turn. The next day, when the prince comes for his payment, Richard, who has waxed his hand by way of preparation, delivers a blow which breaks the young champion’s cheek-bone and fells him dead. There is another instance in ‘The Turke and Gowin,’ Percy MS., Hales and Furnivall, I, 91 ff.
414–450. Robin Hood is pardoned by King Edward on condition of his leaving the greenwood with all his company, and taking service at court. In the course of a twelvemonth,[77]keeping up his old profusion, Robin has spent not only all his own money, but all his men’s, in treating knights and squires, and at the end of the year all his band have deserted him save John and Scathlock. About this time, chancing to see young men shooting, the recollection of his life in the woods comes over him so powerfully that he feels that he shall die if he stays longer with the king. He therefore affects to have made a vow to go to Barnsdale “barefoot and woolward.” Upon this plea he obtains from the king leave of absence for a week, and, once more in the forest, never reports for duty in two and twenty years.
Hunter, who could have identified Pigrogromitus and Quinapalus, if he had given his mind to it, sees in this passage, and in what precedes it of King Edward’s trip to Nottingham, a plausible semblance of historical reality.[78]Edward II, as may be shown from Rymer’s Fœdera, made a progress in the counties of York, Lancaster, and Nottingham, in the latter part of the year 1323. He was in Yorkshire in August and September, in Lancashire in October, at Nottingham November 9–23, spending altogether five or six weeks in that neighborhood, and leaving it a little before Christmas. “Now it will scarcely be believed, but it is, nevertheless, the plain and simple truth, that in documents preserved in the Exchequer, containing accounts of expenses in the king’s household, we find the name of Robyn Hode, not once, but several times occurring, receiving, with about eight and twenty others, the pay of 3d.a day, as one of the ‘vadlets, porteurs de la chambre’ of the king;” these entries running from March 24, 1324, to November 22 of the same year. There are entries of payments to vadlets during the year preceding, but unluckily the accountant has put down the sums in gross, without specifying the names of persons who received regular wages. This, as Hunter remarks, does not quite prove that Robyn Hode had not been among these persons before Christmas, 1323, but, on the other hand, account-book evidence is lacking to show that he had been. Hunter’s interpretation of the data is that Robyn Hode entered the king’s service at Nottingham a little before Christmas, 1323. If this was so, his career as porter was not only brief, but pitiably checkered. His pay is docked for five days’ absence in May, again for eight days in August, then for fifteen days in October. “He was growing weary of his new mode of life.” Seven days, once more, are deducted in November, andunder the 22d of that month we find this entry:Robyn Hode, jadys un des porteurs, poar cas qil ne poait pluis travailler de donn par comandement, v. s.After this his name no longer appears.
A simple way of reading the Exchequer documents is that one Robert Hood, some time (and, for aught we know, a long time) porter in the king’s household, after repeatedly losing time, was finally discharged, with a present of five shillings, because he could not do his work. To detect “a remarkable coincidence between the ballad and the record” requires not only a theoretical prepossession, but an uncommon insensibility to the ludicrous.[79]But taking things with entire seriousness, there is no correspondence between the ballad and the record other than this: that Robin Hood, who is in the king’s service, leaves it; in the one instance deserting, and in the other being displaced. Hunter himself does not, as in the case of Adam Bell, insist that the name Robin Hood is “peculiar.” He cites, p. 10, a Robert Hood, citizen of London, who supplied the king’s household with beer, 28 Edward I, and a Robert Hood of Wakefield, twice mentioned, 9, 10 Edward II.[80]Another Robert Hood at Throckelawe, Northumbria, is thrice mentioned in the Exchequer Rolls, Edward I, 19, 20, 30: Rot. Orig. in Cur. Scac. Abbrev., I, 69, 73, 124. A Robert Hood is manucaptor for a burgess returned from Lostwithiel, Cornwall, 7 Edward II, Parliamentary Writs, II, 1019, and another, of Howden, York, 10 Edward III, is noted in the Calendar of Patent Rolls, p. 125, No 31, cited by Ritson. In all these we have six Robin Hoods between 30 Edward I and 10 Edward III, a period of less than forty years.
433, 435–50 are translated by A. Grün, p. 166.
a.1Lythe and listin, gentilmen,That be of frebore blode;I shall you tel of a gode yeman,His name was RobynHode.2Robynwas a prude outlaw,[Whyles he walked on grounde;So curteyse an outlawe] as he was oneWas never non founde.3Robynstode inBernesdale,And lenyd hymto a tre;And bi hymstode Litell Johnn,A gode yeman was he.4And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok,And Much, the miller’s son;There was none ynch of his bodiBut it was worth a grome.5Than bespake Lytell JohnnAll vntoo Robyn Hode:Maister, and ye wolde dyne betymeIt wolde doo you moche gode.6Thanbespake hymgode Robyn:To dyne haue I noo lust,Till that I haue sombolde baron,Or som vnkouth gest.7. . . . . . .That may pay for the best,Or som knyght or [som] squyer,That dwelleth here bi west.
a.1Lythe and listin, gentilmen,That be of frebore blode;I shall you tel of a gode yeman,His name was RobynHode.2Robynwas a prude outlaw,[Whyles he walked on grounde;So curteyse an outlawe] as he was oneWas never non founde.3Robynstode inBernesdale,And lenyd hymto a tre;And bi hymstode Litell Johnn,A gode yeman was he.4And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok,And Much, the miller’s son;There was none ynch of his bodiBut it was worth a grome.5Than bespake Lytell JohnnAll vntoo Robyn Hode:Maister, and ye wolde dyne betymeIt wolde doo you moche gode.6Thanbespake hymgode Robyn:To dyne haue I noo lust,Till that I haue sombolde baron,Or som vnkouth gest.7. . . . . . .That may pay for the best,Or som knyght or [som] squyer,That dwelleth here bi west.
a.1Lythe and listin, gentilmen,That be of frebore blode;I shall you tel of a gode yeman,His name was RobynHode.
a.1
Lythe and listin, gentilmen,
That be of frebore blode;
I shall you tel of a gode yeman,
His name was RobynHode.
2Robynwas a prude outlaw,[Whyles he walked on grounde;So curteyse an outlawe] as he was oneWas never non founde.
2
Robynwas a prude outlaw,
[Whyles he walked on grounde;
So curteyse an outlawe] as he was one
Was never non founde.
3Robynstode inBernesdale,And lenyd hymto a tre;And bi hymstode Litell Johnn,A gode yeman was he.
3
Robynstode inBernesdale,
And lenyd hymto a tre;
And bi hymstode Litell Johnn,
A gode yeman was he.
4And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok,And Much, the miller’s son;There was none ynch of his bodiBut it was worth a grome.
4
And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok,
And Much, the miller’s son;
There was none ynch of his bodi
But it was worth a grome.
5Than bespake Lytell JohnnAll vntoo Robyn Hode:Maister, and ye wolde dyne betymeIt wolde doo you moche gode.
5
Than bespake Lytell Johnn
All vntoo Robyn Hode:
Maister, and ye wolde dyne betyme
It wolde doo you moche gode.
6Thanbespake hymgode Robyn:To dyne haue I noo lust,Till that I haue sombolde baron,Or som vnkouth gest.
6
Thanbespake hymgode Robyn:
To dyne haue I noo lust,
Till that I haue sombolde baron,
Or som vnkouth gest.
7. . . . . . .That may pay for the best,Or som knyght or [som] squyer,That dwelleth here bi west.
7
. . . . . . .
That may pay for the best,
Or som knyght or [som] squyer,
That dwelleth here bi west.