| |
I
COME, gentlemen all, and listen a while; | |
| A story I’II to you unfold— | |
| How Robin Hood servèd the Bishop, | |
| When he robb’d him of his gold. | |
| |
II
As it befel in merry Barnsdale, | 5 |
| And under the green-wood tree, | |
| The Bishop of Hereford was to come by, | |
| With all his companye. | |
| |
III
‘Come, kill a ven’son,’ said bold Robin Hood, | |
| ‘Come, kill me a good fat deer; | 10 |
| The Bishop’s to dine with me to day, | |
| And he shall pay well for his cheer. | |
| |
IV
‘We’ll kill a fat ven’son,’ said bold Robin Hood, | |
| ‘And dress’t by the highway-side, | |
| And narrowly watch for the Bishop, | 15 |
| Lest some other way he should ride.’ | |
| |
V
He dress’d himself up in shepherd’s attire, | |
| With six of his men also; | |
| And the Bishop of Hereford came thereby, | |
| As about the fire they did go. | 20 |
| |
VI
‘What matter is this?’ said the Bishop; | |
| ‘Or for whom do you make this a-do? | |
| Or why do you kill the King’s ven’son, | |
| When your company is so few?’ | |
| |
VII
‘We are shepherds,’ said bold Robin Hood, | 25 |
| ‘And we keep sheep all the year; | |
| And we are disposed to be merry this day, | |
| And to kill of the King’s fat deer.’ | |
| |
VIII
‘You are brave fellowes,’ said the Bishop, | |
| ‘And the King of your doings shall know; | 30 |
| Therefore make haste, come along with me, | |
| For before the King you shall go.’ | |
| |
IX
‘O pardon, O pardon,’ says bold Robin Hood, | |
| ‘O pardon, I thee pray! | |
| For it never becomes your lordship’s coat | 35 |
| To take so many lives away.’ | |
| |
X
‘No pardon, no pardon!’ the Bishop says; | |
| ‘No pardon I thee owe; | |
| Therefore make haste, come along with me, | |
| For before the King you shall go.’ | 40 |
| |
XI
Robin set his back against a tree, | |
| And his foot against a thorn, | |
| And from underneath his shepherd’s coat | |
| He pull’d out a bugle horn. | |
| |
XII
He put the little end to his mouth, | 45 |
| And a loud blast did he blow, | |
| Till threescore and ten of bold Robin’s men | |
| Came running all on a row; | |
| |
XIII
All making obeisance to bold Robin Hood; | |
| —’Twas a comely sight for to see: | 50 |
| ‘What matter, my master,’ said Little John. | |
| ‘That you blow so hastilye?’— | |
| |
XIV
‘O here is the Bishop of Hereford, | |
| And no pardon we shall have.’— | |
| ‘Cut off his head, master,’ said Little John, | 55 |
| ‘And throw him into his grave.’— | |
| |
XV
‘O pardon, O pardon,’ said the Bishop, | |
| ‘O pardon, I thee pray! | |
| For if I had known it had been you, | |
| I’d have gone some other way.’— | 60 |
| |
XVI
‘No pardon, no pardon!’ said Robin Hood; | |
| ‘No pardon I thee owe; | |
| Therefore make haste, come along with me, | |
| For to merry Barnsdale you shall go.’ | |
| |
XVII
Then Robin has taken the Bishop’s hand | 65 |
| And led him to merry Barnsdale; | |
| He made him to stay and sup with him that night, | |
| And to drink wine, beer and ale. | |
| |
XVIII
‘Call in the reckoning,’ said the Bishòp, | |
| ‘For methinks it grows wondrous high.’— | 70 |
| ‘Lend me your purse, Bishop,’ said Little John, | |
| ‘And I’ll tell you by-and-by.’ | |
| |
XIX
Then Little John took the Bishop’s cloak, | |
| And spread it upon the ground, | |
| And out of the Bishop’s portmantua | 75 |
| He told three hundred pound. | |
| |
XX
‘So now let him go,’ said Robin Hood; | |
| Said Little John, ‘That may not be; | |
| For I vow and protest he shall sing us a mass | |
| Before that he go from me.’ | 80 |
| |
XXI
Robin Hood took the Bishop by the hand, | |
| And bound him fast to a tree, | |
| And made him to sing a mass, God wot, | |
| To him and his yeomandrye. | |
| |
XXII
Then Robin Hood brought him through the wood | 85 |
| And causèd the music to play, | |
| And he made the Bishop to dance in his boots, | |
| And they set him on’s dapple-grey, | |
| And they gave the tail within his hand— | |
| And glad he could so get away! | 90 |
| |
