Chapter IX: Appendix: THE PLAYE OF ROBYN HODE (vv. 121 ff.)

As printed by Copland, at the end of his edition of the Gest, with a few corrections from White’s edition, 1634: Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 199. I have not thought it necessary to collate Ritson’s reprint with Copland. The collations with White here are made with the undated copy in the Bodleian Library, Z. 3. Art. Seld.

ROBYN HODE

Lysten, to [me], my mery men all, v. 121 And harke what I shall say; Of an adventure I shall you tell, That befell this other daye. With a proude potter I met, And a rose-garlande on his head, The floures of it shone marvaylous freshe; This seven yere and more he hath used this waye, Yet was he never so curteyse a potter As one peny passage to paye. 130 Is there any of my mery men all That dare be so bolde To make the potter paie passage, Either silver or golde?

LYTELL JOHN

Not I master, for twenty pound redy tolde. 135 For there is not among us al one That dare medle with that potter, man for man. I felt his handes not long agone, But I had lever have ben here by the; Therfore I knowe what he is. 140 Mete him when ye wil, or mete him whan ye shal, He is as propre a man as ever you medle[d] withal.

ROBYN HODE

I will lai with the, Litel John, twenti pound so read, If I wyth that potter mete, I wil make him pay passage, maugre his head. 145

LYTTEL JOHN

I consente therto, so eate I bread; If he pay passage, maugre his head, Twenti pound shall ye have of me for your mede.

THE POTTERS BOY JACKE

Out alas, that ever I sawe this daye! For I am clene out of my waye 150 From Notyngham towne; If I hye me not the faster, Or I come there the market wel be done.

ROBYN HODE

Let me se, are the pottes hole and sounde?

JACKE

Yea, meister, but they will not breake the ground. 155

ROBYN HODE

I wil them breke, for the cuckold thi maisters sake; And if they will breake the grounde, Thou shalt have thre pence for a pound.

JACKE

Out alas! what have ye done? If my maister come, he will breke your crown. 160

THE POTTER

Why, thou horeson, art thou here yet? Thou shouldest have bene at market.

JACKE

I met with Robin Hode, a good yeman; He hath broken my pottes, And called you kuckolde by your name. 165

THE POTTER

Thou mayst be a gentylman, so God me save, But thou semest a noughty knave. Thou callest me cuckolde by my name, And I swere by God and Saynt John, Wyfe had I never none: 170 This cannot I denye. But if thou be a good felowe, I wil sel mi horse, mi harneis, pottes and paniers to, Thou shalt have the one halfe, and I will have the other. If thou be not so content, 175 Thou shalt have stripes, if thou were my brother.

ROBYN HODE

Harke, potter, what I shall say: This seven yere and more thou hast used this way, Yet were thou never so curteous to me As one penny passage to paye. 180

THE POTTER

Why should I pay passage to thee?

ROBYN HODE

For I am Robyn Hode, chiefe gouernoure Under the grene-woode tree.

THE POTTER

This seven yere have I used this way up and downe, Yet payed I passage to no man, 185 Nor now I wyl not beginne, to do the worst thou can.

ROBYN HODE

Passage shalt thou pai here under the grene-wode tre, Or els thou shalt leve a wedde with me.

THE POTTER

If thou be a good felowe, as men do the call, Laye awaye thy bowe, 190 And take thy sword and buckeler in thy hande, And se what shall befall.

ROBIN HODE

Lyttle John, where art thou?

LYTTEL [JOHN]

Here, mayster, I make God avowe. I tolde you, mayster, so God me save, 195 That you shoulde fynde the potter a knave. Holde your buckeler faste in your hande, And I wyll styfly by you stande, Ready for to fyghte; Be the knave never so stoute, 200 I shall rappe him on the snoute, And put hym to flyghte.

_The rest is wanting._

* * * * *

121. to [me], _wanting in White_.

142. medled, _W._

153. maryet.

154. the, _C._; thy, _W._

186. to do: to _wanting in W_.

188. wedded, _C._; wed, _W._

196. your, _C._; you, _W._

122

ROBIN HOOD AND THE BUTCHER

#A.# ‘Robin Hood and the Butcher,’ Percy MS., p. 7; Hales and
Furnivall, I, 19.

#B.# ‘Robin Hood and the Butcher.’ #a.# Wood, 401, 19 b. #b.# Garland
of 1663, No 6. #c.# Garland of 1670, No 5. #d.# Pepys, II, 102, No
89.

Other copies, of the second class, are in the Roxburghe collection, III, 259, and the Douce collection, III, 114. #B a# was printed, with changes, by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 23; a copy resembling the Douce by Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 106.

The story is a variation of Robin Hood and the Potter. According to #A#, the sheriff of Nottingham has resolved to have Robin’s head. A butcher is driving through the forest, and his dog flies at Robin, for which Robin kills the dog. The butcher undertakes to let a little of the yeoman’s blood for this, and there is a bout between staff and sword, in which we know that the butcher must bear himself well, though just here the first of three considerable gaps occurs. Robin buys the butcher’s stock, changes clothes with him, and goes to Nottingham to market his flesh. There he takes up his lodging at the sheriff’s, having perhaps conciliated the sheriff’s wife with the present of a fine joint. He sells at so low a rate that his stock is all gone before any one else has sold a bit. The butchers ask him to drink, and Robin makes an appointment with them at the sheriff’s. A second gap deprives us of the knowledge of what passes here, but we infer that, as in #B#, Robin is so reckless of his money that the sheriff thinks he can make a good bargain in horned beasts with him. Robin is ready; we see that he has come with a well-formed plan. The next day the sheriff goes to view the livestock, and is taken into the depth of the forest; it turns out that the wild deer are the butcher’s horned beasts. Robin’s men come in at the sound of his horn; the sheriff is lightened of all his money, and is told that his head is spared only for his wife’s sake. All this the sheriff tells his wife, on his return, and she replies that he has been served rightly for not tarrying at home, as she had begged him to do. The sheriff says he has learned wisdom, and will meddle no more with Robin Hood.

#B a# omits the brush between Robin and the butcher, mostly wanting, indeed, in #A# also, but only because of the damage which the manuscript has suffered.

The passage in which the sheriff is inveigled into Robin’s haunts has, as already mentioned, close affinity with the Gest, 181 ff.

The first three stanzas of #A# would not be missed, and apparently belong to some other ballad.[98]

#B a# is signed T. R., as is also Robin Hood and the Beggar in two editions, and these we may suppose to be the initials of the person who wrote the story over with middle rhyme in the third line of the stanza, a peculiarity which distinguishes a group of ballads which were sung to the tune of Robin Hood and the Stranger: see Robin Hood and Little John, No 125, and also No 128.

A

Percy MS., p. 7; Hales and Furnivall, I, 19.

1
But Robin he walkes in the g[reene] fforrest,
As merry as bird on boughe,
But he that feitches good Robins head,
Hee’le find him game enoughe.

2
But Robine he walkes in the greene fforrest,
Vnder his trusty-tree;
Sayes, Hearken, hearken, my merrymen all,
What tydings is come to me.

3
The sheriffe he hath made a cry,
Hee’le have my head i-wis;
But ere a tweluemonth come to an end
I may chance to light on his.

4
Robin he marcht in the greene forrest,
Vnder the greenwood scray,
And there he was ware of a proud bucher,
Came driuing flesh by the way.

5
The bucher he had a cut-taild dogg,
And at Robins face he flew;
But Robin he was a good sword,
The bucher’s dogg he slew.

6
‘Why slayes thou my dogg?’ sayes the bucher,
‘For he did none ill to thee;
By all the s_ain_ts that are in heaven
Thou shalt haue buffetts three.’

7
He tooke his staffe then in his hand,
And he turnd him round about:
‘Thou hast a litle wild blood in thy head,
Good fellow, thou’st haue it letten out.’

8
‘He that does that deed,’ sayes Robin,
‘I’le count him for a man;
But that while will I draw my sword,
And fend it if I can.’

9
But Robin he stroke att the bloudy bucher,
In place were he did stand,

* * * * *

10
‘I [am] a younge bucher,’ sayes Robin,
‘You fine dames am I come amonge;
But euer I beseech you, good Mrs Sheriffe,
You must see me take noe wronge.’

11
‘Thou art verry welcome,’ said M_aster_ Sherriff’s wiffe,
‘Thy inne heere up [to] take;
If any good ffellow come in thy companie,
Hee’st be welcome for thy sake.’

12
Robin called ffor ale, soe did he for wine,
And for it he did pay:
‘I must to my markett goe,’ says Robin,
‘For I hold time itt of the day.’

13
But Robin is to the markett gone,
Soe quickly and beliue,
He sold more flesh for one peny
Then othe[r] buchers did for fiue.

14
The drew about the younge bucher,
Like sheepe into a fold;
Yea neuer a bucher had sold a bitt
Till Robin he had all sold.

15
When Robin Hood had his markett made,
His flesh was sold and gone;
Yea he had receiued but a litle mony,
But thirty pence and one.

16
Seaven buchers, the garded Robin Hood,
Ffull many time and oft;
Sayes, We must drinke w_i_th you, brother bucher,
It’s custome of our crafte.

17
‘If that be the custome of yo_u_r crafte,
As heere you tell to me,
Att four of the clocke in the afternoone
At the sheriffs hall I wilbe.’

* * * * *

18
. . . . . . .
‘If thou doe like it well;
Yea heere is more by three hundred pound
Then thou hast beasts to sell.’

19
Robyn sayd naught, the more he thought:
‘Mony neere comes out of time;
If once I catch thee in the greene fforest,
_Tha_t mony it shall be mine.’

20
But on the next day seuen butchers
Came to guard the sheriffe that day;
But Robin he was the whigh[t]est man,
He led them all the way.

21
He led them into the greene fforest,
Vnder the trusty tree;
Yea, there were harts, and ther were hynds,
And staggs w_i_th heads full high.

22
Yea, there were harts and there were hynds,
And many a goodly ffawne;
‘Now praised be God,’ says bold Robin,
‘All these they be my owne.

23
‘These are my horned beasts,’ says Robin,
‘M_aster_ Sherriffe, w_hi_ch must make the stake;’
‘But euer alacke, now,’ said the sheriffe,
‘_Tha_t tydings comes to late!’

24
Robin sett a shrill horne to his mouth,
And a loud blast he did blow,
And then halfe a hundred bold archers
Came rakeing on a row.

25
But when the came befor bold Robin,
Even there the stood all bare:
‘You are welcome, m_aster_, from Nottingham:
How haue you sold your ware?’

* * * * *

26
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
It proues bold Robin Hood.

27
‘Yea, he hath robbed me of all my gold
And siluer _tha_t euer I had;
But that I had a verry good wife at home,
I shold haue lost my head.

28
‘But I had a verry good wife at home,
W_h_ich made him gentle cheere,
And therfor, for my wifes sake,
I shold haue better favor heere.

29
‘But such favor as he shewed me
I might haue of the devills dam,
That will rob a man of all he hath,
And send him naked home.’

30
‘That is very well done,’ then says his wiffe,
‘Itt is well done, I say;
You might haue tarryed att Nottingham,
Soe fayre as I did you pray.’

31
‘I haue learned wisdome,’ sayes the sherriffe,
‘And, wife, I haue learned of thee;
But if Robin walke easte, or he walke west,
He shall neuer be sought for me.’

B

#a.# Wood, 401, leaf 19 b. #b.# Garland of 1663, No 6. #c.# Garland
of 1670, No 5. #d.# Pepys, II, 102, No 89.

1
Come, all you brave gallants, and listen a while,
With hey down, down, an a down
That are in the bowers within;
For of Robin Hood, that archer good,
A song I intend for to sing.

2
Upon a time it chancëd so
Bold Robin in forrest did spy
A jolly butcher, with a bonny fine mare,
With his flesh to the market did hye.

3
‘Good morrow, good fellow,’ said jolly Robin,
‘What food hast? tell unto me;
And thy trade to me tell, and where thou dost dwell,
For I like well thy company.’

4
The butcher he answered jolly Robin:
No matter where I dwell;
For a butcher I am, and to Notingham
I am going, my flesh to sell.

5
‘What is [the] price of thy flesh?’ said jolly Robin,
‘Come, tell it soon unto me;
And the price of thy mare, be she never so dear,
For a butcher fain would I be.’

6
‘The price of my flesh,’ the butcher repli’d,
‘I soon will tell unto thee;
With my bonny mare, and they are not dear,
Four mark thou must give unto me.’

7
‘Four mark I will give thee,’ saith jolly Robin,
‘Four mark it shall be thy fee;
Thy mony come count, and let me mount,
For a butcher I fain would be.’

8
Now Robin he is to Notingham gone,
His butcher’s trade for to begin;
With good intent, to the sheriff he went,
And there he took up his inn.

9
When other butchers they opened their meat,
Bold Robin he then begun;
But how for to sell he knew not well,
For a butcher he was but young.

10
When other butchers no meat could sell,
Robin got both gold and fee;
For he sold more meat for one peny
Than others could do for three.

11
But when he sold his meat so fast,
No butcher by him could thrive;
For he sold more meat for one peny
Than others could do for five.

12
Which made the butchers of Notingham
To study as they did stand,
Saying, surely he was some prodigal,
That had sold his father’s land.

13
The butchers they stepped to jolly Robin,
Acquainted with him for to be;
‘Come, brother,’ one said, ‘we be all of one trade,
Come, will you go dine with me?’

14
‘Accurst of his heart,’ said jolly Robin,
‘That a butcher doth deny;
I will go with you, my brethren true,
And as fast as I can hie.’

15
But when to the sheriff’s house they came,
To dinner they hied apace,
And Robin he the man must be
Before them all to say grace.

16
‘Pray God bless us all,’ said jolly Robin,
‘And our meat within this place;
A cup of sack so good will nourish our blood,
And so I do end my grace.

17
‘Come fill us more wine,’ said jolly Robin,
‘Let us merry be while we do stay;
For wine and good cheer, be it never so dear,
I vow I the reckning will pay.

18
‘Come, brother[s], be merry,’ said jolly Robin,
‘Let us drink, and never give ore;
For the shot I will pay, ere I go my way,
If it cost me five pounds and more.’

19
‘This is a mad blade,’ the butchers then said;
Saies the sheriff, He is some prodigal,
That some land has sold, for silver and gold,
And now he doth mean to spend all.

20
‘Hast thou any horn-beasts,’ the sheriff repli’d,
‘Good fellow, to sell unto me?’
‘Yes, that I have, good Master Sheriff,
I have hundreds two or three.

21
‘And a hundred aker of good free land,
If you please it to see;
And I’le make you as good assurance of it
As ever my father made me.’

22
The sheriff he saddled a good palfrey,
With three hundred pound in gold,
And away he went with bold Robin Hood,
His horned beasts to behold.

23
Away then the sheriff and Robin did ride,
To the forrest of merry Sherwood;
Then the sheriff did say, God bless us this day
From a man they call Robin Hood!

24
But when that a little further they came,
Bold Robin he chancëd to spy
A hundred head of good red deer,
Come tripping the sheriff full nigh.

25
‘How like you my hornd beasts, good Master Sheriff?
They be fat and fair for to see;’
‘I tell thee, good fellow, I would I were gone,
For I like not thy company.’

26
Then Robin he set his horn to his mouth,
And blew but blasts three;
Then quickly anon there came Little John,
And all his company.

27
‘What is your will?’ then said Little John,
‘Good master come tell it to me;’
‘I have brought hither the sheriff of Notingham,
This day to dine with thee.’

28
‘He is welcome to me,’ then said Little John,
‘I hope he will honestly pay;
I know he has gold, if it be but well told,
Will serve us to drink a whole day.’

29
Then Robin took his mantle from his back,
And laid it upon the ground,
And out of the sheriffeś portmantle
He told three hundred pound.

30
Then Robin he brought him thorow the wood,
And set him on his dapple gray:
‘O have me commended to your wife at home;’
So Robin went laughing away.

* * * * *

#A.#

1^2. bughe.

1^3. d _in_ head _has a tag to it: Furnivall_.

6^4. 3. _After_ 9^2, 17^4, 25^4, _half a page gone_.

13^4. 5.

15^4. 30[ty :].

17^3. 4.

18^3. 300[li :].

19^3. cacth: in thy.

20^1. 7.

24^3. 100[d :].

28^3. p_ro_ _for_ for.

#B. a.#

Robin Hood and the Butcher. To the Tune of Robin Hood and the
Begger.

_At the end_, T. R.

_Colophon._ London. Printed for F. Grove on Snow Hill. F. Grove
_printed_ 1620–55: _Chappell_.

12^4. hath sold.

#b.#

Robin Hood and the Butcher; shewing how he robbed the sheriff of
Nottingham. To the Tune of Robin Hood and the Begger.

4^2. I do.

5^1. What is price.

10^4, 11^4. Then.

12^1. when _misprinted for_ made.

12^4. had sold.

18^1. brother.

18^3. go on.

19^3. hath sold.

21^1. And an.

21^4. to me.

25^1. Sheriff _wanting_.

27^4. with me.

29^3. sheriffs.

#c.#

_Title as in_ #b.#

2, 8, _and after_ 8, _burden_: a hey.

5^1. is y^e.

10^4, 11^4. Then.

12^4. had sold.

17^2. do _wanting_.

18^1. brother.

18^3. go on.

18^4. costs.

19^3. hath sold.

21^2. it please.

21^3. you _wanting_.

21^4. did me.

24^3. red _wanting_.

27^2. pray tell.

29^3. sheriffs.

#d.#

Robin Hood and the Butcher. To the Tune of Robin Hood and the
Beggar.

_Colophon._ Printed for I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger.
1670–86 (?).

_Burden. From 2^1 on_, With a hey (_not_ With hey). _Also after
the fourth line_, With a hey, &c.

1^1. ye.

1^2. this bower.

1^4. for _wanting_.

2^2. in the.

5^1. What’s the.

5^3. be it.

7^3. The.

8^3. a good.

9^1. butchers did open.

10^4. Then.

12^4. hath sold.

13^3. of a.

14^2. will deny.

15^3. Robin Hood.

16^4. do _wanting_.

17^2. be merry.

18^1. brothers.

18^4. pound or.

20^1. thou _wanting_: hornd: sheriff then said.

21^1. A hundred acres.

22^2. And with.

22^3. And _wanting_.

26^2. blew out.

27^1. will master said.

27^2. I pray you come.

27^3. hither _wanting_.

28^1. then _wanting_.

28^3. were it but.

29^4. five _for_ three, _wrongly, see_ 22^2.

30^1. he _wanting_: through.

123

ROBIN HOOD AND THE CURTAL FRIAR

#A.# ‘Robine Hood and Ffryer Tucke,’ Percy MS., p. 10; Hales and
Furnivall, I, 26.

#B.# ‘The Famous Battel between Robin Hood and the Curtal Fryer.’ #a.#
Garland of 1663, No 11. #b.#[99] Pepys, I, 78, No 37. #c.# Garland
of 1670. #d.# Wood, 401, leaf 15 b. #e.# Pepys, II, 99, No 86. #f.#
Douce, II, 184.

#B# also in the Roxburghe collection, III, 16.

#B d# was printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 58, corrected by #b# and compared with #e#; and in Evans’s Old Ballads, 1777–1784, I, 136, probably from the Aldermary garland.

The opening verses of #A# are of the same description as those with which Nos 117, 118, 119, and others begin. 1 has been corrupted, and 2 also, one would think, as there is no apparent reason for maids weeping and young men wringing hands in the merry month of May. In the first stanza,

But how many merry monthes be in the yeere?
There are 13 in May;
The midsummer moone is the merryest of all,
Next to the merry month of May.

_month_ in the first and the fourth line might be changed to _moon_, to justify thirteen in the second, and to accord with _moon_ in the third. For in May, in the second line, we may read, I say, or many say. The first stanza of No 140, #B#, runs:

There are twelve months in all the year,
As I hear many say;
But the merriest month in all the year
Is the merry month of May.

Nearly, or quite, one half of #A# has been torn from the manuscript, but there is no reason to suppose that the story differed much from that of #B.#

Upon Little John’s killing a hart at five hundred foot, Robin Hood exclaims that he would ride a hundred mile to find John’s match. Scadlock, with a laugh, says that there is a friar at Fountains Abbey who will beat both John and Robin, or indeed Robin and all his yeomen. Robin Hood takes an oath never to eat or drink till he has seen that friar. (Cf. No 30, I, 275, 279.) Robin goes to Fountains Abbey, and ensconces his men in a fern-brake. He finds the friar walking by the water, well armed, and begs [orders, #B#] the friar to carry him over.[100] The friar takes Robin on his back, and says no word till he is over; then draws his sword and bids Robin carry him back, or he shall rue it. Robin takes the friar on his back, and says no word till he is over; then bids the friar carry him over once more. The friar, without a word, takes Robin on his back, and when he comes to the middle of the stream throws him in. When both have swum to the shore, Robin lets an arrow fly, which the friar puts by with his buckler. The friar cares not for his arrows, though Robin shoots till his arrows are all gone. They take to swords, and fight with them for six good hours, when Robin begs the boon of blowing three blasts on his horn. The friar gives him leave to blow his eyes out: fifty bowmen come raking over the lea. The friar in turn asks a boon, to whistle thrice in his fist. Robin cares not how much he whistles: fifty good bandogs come raking in a row. Here there is a divergence. According to #A#, the friar will match every man with a dog, and himself with Robin. God forbid, says Robin; better be matched with three of the dogs than with thee. Stay thy tikes, and let us be friends. In #B#, two dogs go at Robin and tear his mantle from his back; all the arrows shot at them the dogs catch in their mouths. Little John calls to the friar to call off his dogs, and enforces his words by laying half a score of them dead on the plain with his bow. The friar cries, Hold; he will make terms. Robin Hood offers the friar clothes and fee to forsake Fountains Abbey for the green-wood. We must infer, as in the parallel case of the Pinder of Wakefield, that the offer is accepted.[101] But the Curtal Friar, like the Pinder again, plays no part in Robin Hood story out of his own ballad.

Robin Hood and the Friar, in both versions, is in a genuinely popular strain, and was made to sing, not to print. Verbal agreements show that #A# and #B# have an earlier ballad as their common source; but of this, one or the other has retained but little. I cannot think that #B# 33, 34 are of the original matter. It is a derogation from Robin Hood’s prowess that he should have his mantle torn from his back, and we may ask why the dogs do not catch Little John’s arrows as well as others.

Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was a Cistercian monastery, dating from the twelfth century. (It is loosely called a nunnery in #A# 4.) The friar is called “cutted” in #A# and “curtal” in #B#, and these words have been held to mean short-frocked, and therefore to make the friar a Franciscan. Staveley, The Romish Horseleech, speaking of the Franciscans, says at p. 214, Experience shews that in some countrys, where friers used to wear short habits, the order was presently contemned and derided, and men called them curtaild friers. Cited by Douce, Illustrations of Shakspere, I, 61. So, according to Douce, we may probably understand the curtal friar to be a curtailed friar, and in like manner of the curtal dogs. “Cutted” in #A# can signify nothing but short-frocked. In the title of that version, though not in the text, the friar is called Tuck, which means that he is “ytukked bye,” like Chaucer’s Friar John, but not that he wears a short frock. The friar in the play (see below) has a “long cote,” v. 46. But I apprehend that #B# has the older word in curtal, and that curtal is simply _curtilarius_, and applied to both friar and dogs because they had the care and keeping of the _curtile_, or vegetable garden, of the monastery.[102]

The title of #A# in the MS. is Robin Hood and Friar Tuck; from which it follows that the copyist, or some predecessor, considered the stalwart friar of Fountains Abbey to be one with the jocular friar of the May-games and the morris dance. But Friar Tuck, the wanton and the merry, like Maid Marian, owes his association with Robin Hood primarily to these popular sports, and not in the least to popular ballads. In the truly popular ballads Friar Tuck is never heard of, and in only two even of the broadsides, Robin Hood and Queen Katherine and Robin Hood’s Golden Prize, is he so much as named; in both no more than named, and in both in conjunction with Maid Marian.

‘The Play of Robin Hood,’ the first half of which is based on the present ballad, calls the friar Friar Tuck, and represents him accordingly. See the Appendix. He is also called Tuck in the play founded on Guy of Gisborne.

In Munday’s Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington, Friar Tuck is by implication identified with the friar who fell into the well, Dodsley’s Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, VIII, 185; and Mr Chappell is consequently led to say, at p. 390 of his ‘Popular Music,’ that the ballad of the Friar in the Well was in all probability a tale of “Robin Hood’s fat friar.” Cavilling at this phrase of Shakspere’s only so far as to observe that the friar of the traditional Robin Hood ballad is as little fat as wanton, I need but say that the truth of the case had been already accurately expressed by Mr Chappell at p. 274 of his invaluable work: “the story is a very old one, and one of the many against monks and friars in which not only England, but all Europe, delighted.”

The boon to blow three blasts on his horn, #B# 25, is also asked by Robin of the Shepherd, No 134, st. 15. The reply made by the Shepherd, st. 16, is, If thou shouldst blow till tomorrow morn, I scorn one foot to flee. In R. H. Rescuing Three Squires, #B# 25, when Robin, disguised as a beggar, intimates to the sheriff that he may blow his horn, the answer is nearly the same as here: Blow till both thy eyes fall out. In No 127, st. 34 f, Robin asks a boon of the Tinker, without specifying what the boon is; the Tinker refuses; Robin blows his horn while the Tinker is not looking. In No 135, st. 16 f, Robin asks the three keepers to let him blow one blast on his horn, and they refuse. This boon of [three] blasts on a horn is not an important matter in these Robin Hood ballads, but it may be noticed as a feature of other popular ballads in which an actor is reduced to extremity: as in the Swedish ballad Stolts Signild, Arwidsson, II, 128, No 97, and the corresponding Signild og hendes Broder, Danske Viser, IV, 31, No 170, in both of which the answer to the request is, Blow as much as you will. So in a Russian bylina, when Solomon is to be hanged, he obtains permission three several times to blow his horn, and is told to blow as much as he will, and upon the third blast his army comes to the rescue: Rybnikof, II, No 52, Jagié, in Archiv für slavische Philologie, I, 104 ff; Miss Hapgood’s Epic Songs of Russia, p. 287 f; also F. Vogt, Salman und Morolf, p. 104, sts 494 ff.[103] Three cries take the place of three blasts, upon occasion: as in the case of the unhappy maid in the German forms of No 4, I, 32 ff, where also the maid is sometimes told to cry as much as she wants, and in Gesta Romanorum, Oesterley, cap. 108, p. 440.

#B# is translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 124.

A

Percy MS., p. 10; Hales and Furnivall, I, 26.

1
But how many merry monthes be in the yeere?
There are thirteen, I say;
The midsum_m_er moone is the merryest of all,
Next to the merry month of May.

2
In May, when mayds beene fast weepand,
Young men their hands done wringe,

* * * * *

3
‘I’le . . pe . . . . .
Over may noe man for villanie:’
‘I’le never eate nor drinke,’ Ro_bin_ Hood sa[id],
‘Till I that cutted friar see.’

4
He builded his men in a brake of fearne,
A litle from that nunery;
Sayes, If you heare my litle horne blow,
Then looke you come to me.

5
When Robin came to Fontaines Abey,
Wheras that fryer lay,
He was ware of the fryer where he stood,
And to him thus can he say.

6
A payre of blacke breeches the yeoman had on,
His coppe all shone of steele,
A fayre sword and a broad buckeler
Beseemed him very weell.

7
‘I am a wet weary man,’ said Robin Hood,
‘Good fellow, as thou may see;
Wilt beare [me] over this wild water,
Ffor sweete S_ain_t Charity?’

8
The fryer bethought him of a good deed;
He had done none of long before;
He hent up Robin Hood on his backe,
And over he did him beare.

9
But when he came over _tha_t wild water,
A longe sword there he drew:
‘Beare me backe againe, bold outlawe,
Or of this thou shalt have enoughe.’

10
Then Robin Hood hent the fryar on his back,
And neither sayd good nor ill;
Till he came ore that wild water,
The yeoman he walked still.

11
Then Robin Hood wett his fayre greene hoze,
A span aboue his knee;
S[ay]s, Beare me ore againe, thou cutted f[ryer]

* * * * *

12
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
. . . . . good bowmen
[C]ame raking all on a rowe.

13
‘I beshrew thy head,’ said the cutted ffriar,
‘Thou thinkes I shall be shente;
I thought thou had but a man or two,
And thou hast [a] whole conuent.

14
‘I lett thee haue a blast on thy horne,
Now giue me leaue to whistle another;
I cold not bidd thee noe better play
And thou wert my owne borne brother.’

15
‘Now fute on, fute on, thou cutted fryar,
I pray God thou neere be still;
It is not the futing in a fryers fist
_Tha_t can doe me any ill.’

16
The fryar sett his neave to his mouth,
A loud blast he did blow;
Then halfe a hundred good bandoggs
Came raking all on a rowe.

17
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
‘Euery dogg to a man,’ said the cutted fryar,
‘And I my selfe to Robin Hood.’

18
‘Over God’s forbott,’ said Robin Hood,
‘_Tha_t euer _tha_t soe shold bee;
I had rather be mached w_i_th three of the tikes
Ere I wold be matched on thee.

19
‘But stay thy tikes, thou fryar,’ he said,
‘And freindshipp I’le haue w_i_th thee;
But stay thy tikes, thou fryar,’ he said,
‘And saue good yeomanry.’

20
The fryar he sett his neave to his mouth,
A lowd blast he did blow;
The doggs the coucht downe euery one,
They couched downe on a rowe.

21
‘What is thy will, thou yeoman?’ he said,
‘Haue done and tell it me;’
‘If that thou will goe to merry greenwood,

* * * * *

B

#a.# Garland of 1663, No 11. #b.# Pepys, I, 78, No 37. #c.# Garland
of 1670, No 10. #d.# Wood, 401, leaf 15 b. #e.# Pepys, II, 99, No
86. #f.# Douce, II, 184.

1
In summer time, when leaves grow green,
And flowers are fresh and gay,
Robin Hood and his merry men
Were disposed to play.

2
Then some would leap, and some would run,
And some would use artillery:
‘Which of you can a good bow draw,
A good archer to be?

3
‘Which of you can kill a buck?
Or who can kill a do?
Or who can kill a hart of greece,
Five hundred foot him fro?’

4
Will Scadlock he killd a buck,
And Midge he killd a do,
And Little John killd a hart of greece,
Five hundred foot him fro.

5
‘God’s blessing on thy heart,’ said Robin Hood,
‘That hath [shot] such a shot for me;
I would ride my horse an hundred miles,
To finde one could match with thee.’

6
That causd Will Scadlock to laugh,
He laughed full heartily:
‘There lives a curtal frier in Fountains Abby
Will beat both him and thee.

7
‘That curtal frier in Fountains Abby
Well can a strong bow draw;
He will beat you and your yeomen,
Set them all on a row.’

8
Robin Hood took a solemn oath,
It was by Mary free,
That he would neither eat nor drink
Till the frier he did see.

9
Robin Hood put on his harness good,
And on his head a cap of steel,
Broad sword and buckler by his side,
And they became him weel.

10
He took his bow into his hand,
It was made of a trusty tree,
With a sheaf of arrows at his belt,
To the Fountains Dale went he.

11
And comming unto Fountain[s] Dale,
No further would he ride;
There was he aware of a curtal frier,
Walking by the water-side.

12
The fryer had on a harniss good,
And on his head a cap of steel,
Broad sword and buckler by his side,
And they became him weel.

13
Robin Hood lighted off his horse,
And tied him to a thorn:
‘Carry me over the water, thou curtal frier,
Or else thy life’s forlorn.’

14
The frier took Robin Hood on his back,
Deep water he did bestride,
And spake neither good word nor bad,
Till he came at the other side.

15
Lightly leapt Robin Hood off the friers back;
The frier said to him again,
Carry me over this water, fine fellow,
Or it shall breed thy pain.

16
Robin Hood took the frier on ’s back,
Deep water he did bestride,
And spake neither good word nor bad,
Till he came at the other side.

17
Lightly leapt the fryer off Robin Hoods back;
Robin Hood said to him again,
Carry me over this water, thou curtal frier,
Or it shall breed thy pain.

18
The frier took Robin Hood on’s back again,
And stept up to the knee;
Till he came at the middle stream,
Neither good nor bad spake he.

19
And coming to the middle stream,
There he threw Robin in:
‘And chuse thee, chuse thee, fine fellow,
Whether thou wilt sink or swim.’

20
Robin Hood swam to a bush of broom,
The frier to a wicker wand;
Bold Robin Hood is gone to shore,
And took his bow in hand.

21
One of his best arrows under his belt
To the frier he let flye;
The curtal frier, with his steel buckler,
He put that arrow by.

22
‘Shoot on, shoot on, thou fine fellow,
Shoot on as thou hast begun;
If thou shoot here a summers day,
Thy mark I will not shun.’

23
Robin Hood shot passing well,
Till his arrows all were gone;
They took their swords and steel bucklers,
And fought with might and maine;

24
From ten oth’ clock that day,
Till four ith’ afternoon;
Then Robin Hood came to his knees,
Of the frier to beg a boon.

25
‘A boon, a boon, thou curtal frier,
I beg it on my knee;
Give me leave to set my horn to my mouth,
And to blow blasts three.’

26
‘That will I do,’ said the curtal frier,
‘Of thy blasts I have no doubt;
I hope thou’lt blow so passing well
Till both thy eyes fall out.’

27
Robin Hood set his horn to his mouth,
He blew but blasts three;
Half a hundred yeomen, with bows bent,
Came raking over the lee.

28
‘Whose men are these,’ said the frier,
‘That come so hastily?’
‘These men are mine,’ said Robin Hood;
‘Frier, what is that to thee?’

29
‘A boon, a boon,’ said the curtal frier,
‘The like I gave to thee;
Give me leave to set my fist to my mouth,
And to whute whutes three.’

30
‘That will I do,’ said Robin Hood,
‘Or else I were to blame;
Three whutes in a friers fist
Would make me glad and fain.’

31
The frier he set his fist to his mouth,
And whuted whutes three;
Half a hundred good ban-dogs
Came running the frier unto.

32
‘Here’s for every man of thine a dog,
And I my self for thee:’
‘Nay, by my faith,’ quoth Robin Hood,
‘Frier, that may not be.’

33
Two dogs at once to Robin Hood did go,
The one behind, the other before;
Robin Hoods mantle of Lincoln green
Off from his back they tore.

34
And whether his men shot east or west,
Or they shot north or south,
The curtal dogs, so taught they were,
They kept their arrows in their mouth.

35
‘Take up thy dogs,’ said Little John,
‘Frier, at my bidding be;’
‘Whose man art thou,’ said the curtal frier,
‘Comes here to prate with me?’

36
‘I am Little John, Robin Hoods man,
Frier, I will not lie;
If thou take not up thy dogs soon,
I’le take up them and thee.’

37
Little John had a bow in his hand,
He shot with might and main;
Soon half a score of the friers dogs
Lay dead upon the plain.

38
‘Hold thy hand, good fellow,’ said the curtal frier,
‘Thy master and I will agree;
And we will have new orders taken,
With all the haste that may be.’

39
‘If thou wilt forsake fair Fountains Dale,
And Fountains Abby free,
Every Sunday throughout the year,
A noble shall be thy fee.

40
‘And every holy day throughout the year,
Changed shall thy garment be,
If thou wilt go to fair Nottingham,
And there remain with me.’

41
This curtal frier had kept Fountains Dale
Seven long years or more;
There was neither knight, lord, nor earl
Could make him yield before.

* * * * *

#A.#

_Half a page is gone after 2^2, 11^3, 21^3._

1^1. moones?

1^2. 13 in May.

1^4. month _may pass, though_ moone _is expected_.

2^{1,2}. _might perhaps be intelligible with the other half of the
stanza_.

10^4, 20^3. They.

11^1. eze.

13^4. cou_n_ent? com_m_ent? _F._

15^1. Now fate.

16^3. 100[d :].

17^{3,4}. _bis_ {

18^1. Ever.

18^3. 3.

#B. a.#

The famous battel between Robin Hood and the Curtal Fryer, near
Fountain Dale.

To a new northern tune.

4^1, 6^1. Sadlock: Scadlock _elsewhere_.

15^1. stept. _Cf._ 17^1: leapt _in_ #b#, #e#.

19^4. sing.

24^3. his _wanting, and in all but_ #b#, #e#.

24^4. the _wanting, and in all but_ #b#, #e#.

27^4. ranking: _in_ #d#, #e#, #f#, ranging.

32^1. of thine _wanting_: _found only in_ #b#.

34^4. catcht: kept _in_ #b#, #d#.

35^3. thon.

#b.#

_Title as in_ #a#, _omitting_ near Fountain Dale.

Printed at London for H. Gosson. (1607–41.)

2^4. for to.

3^4, 4^4, 5^3, 27^3, 31^3. hundreth.

5^3. a _for_ an.

5^4. with _wanting_.

7^3. and all.

7^4. all a on a.

8^1. Hood he.

9^2, 12^2. And _wanting_.

10^4. Fountaine.

11^1. into.

11^2. he would.

11^3. he was: of the.

12^1. a _wanting_.

14^4, 16^4. th’ other.

15^1. leapt _for_ stept.

16^1. on his.

18^1. Hood _wanting_.

18^2. in _for_ up.

20^2. wigger.

20^4. in his.

22^1. Scot: _a misprint_.

23^2. gane.

23^4. They _for_ And.

24^1. of clock of that.

24^2. four of th’.

24^3. to his.

24^4. of the.

25^4. But to.

26^1. I will.

27^4. raking.

28^2. comes.

29^4, 30^3, 31^2. whues, _unobjectionable_: _in all the rest_
whutes.

31^1. he set.

31^3. of good band-dogs.

32^1. man of thine.

32^8. said _for_ quoth.

34^4. kept the.

38^4. that _wanting_.

40^1. through the.

41^2. and more.

#c.#

_Title as in_ #a#, _except_ Dales.

5^2. hath _wanting_.

6^3, 7^1. Fountain.

8^4. he the frier did.

15^1. stept.

20^1. swom.

23^1. shot so.

28^3. men _wanting_.

31^3. band-dogs.

34^4. catcht.

35^4. to me.

40^2. garments.

#d.#

_Title as in_ #b#.

Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, W. Gilbertson. (1640–80?)

5^3. a.

5^4. with _wanting_.

7^4. all in.

11^1. Fountains.

11^2. farther.

15^1. stept.

16^1. on his.

20^2. wigger.

23^1. shot so.

23^4. They _for_ And.

24^3. his _wanting_.

24^4. the _wanting_.

27^4. ranging.

28^3. men _wanting_.

31^1. he _wanting_.

32^1. of thine _wanting_.

33^2. and the other.

34^4. They kept.

39^3. through the.

40^2. garments.

#e.#

_Title as in_ #b#.

Printed for W. Thackeray, J. Millet, and A. Milbourn. (1680–97?)

2^4. for _wanting_.

3^4, 4^4. hundreth.

5^2. That shot such a shoot.

5^3. a _for_ an.

5^4. with _wanting_.

6^3. Fountain.

7, 8. _wanting._

10^2. made _wanting_.

11^1. Fountain’s.

11^2. farther.

11^3. he was.

12^1. on _wanting_.

15^1. leapt _for_ stept.

15^3. thou fine.

16^1. on his.

16^3. speak.

17^3. over the.

20^2. wigger.

20^3. to the.

22^2. on _wanting_.

23^1. shot so.

23^2. were all gane.

23^4. They _for_ And.

24^3. to his.

24^4. Of the.

26^1. I will.

27^2. blew out.

27^4. ranging.

31^3. bay dogs.

32^1. Here is.

34^3. The cutrtles.

34^4. caught the.

38^1. Hold thy hand, hold thy hand, said.

39^{1,2}, 41^1. Fountain.

40^1. through the.

40^2. garments.

41^2. and _for_ or.

#f.#

_Title as in_ #b#.

London, printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright. (1655–80.)

2^2. some _wanting_.

5^2. shot such a shoot.

5^3. a.

5^4. with _wanting_.

11^1. Fountains.

11^2. farther.

11^3. ware.

15^1. step’d.

15^3. thou fine.

16^1. on his.

20^2. wigger.

20^3. to the.

21^3, 34^3. curtle.

22^2. on _wanting_.

23^1. shot so.

23^2. Till all his arrows were.

23^4. They _for_ And.

24^3. his _wanting_.

24^4. the _wanting_.

27^4. ranging.

28^3. men _wanting_.

30^3. fryer.

31^1. he _wanting_.

31^3. bay-dogs.

32^1. Here is: of thine _wanting_.

33^2. and the other.

34^4. caught the.

39^2, 41^1. Fountain.

39^3, 40^1. through the.

40^2. garments.

41^2. and more.