test, he may be considered his rival as the hero of English song. ROBIN HOOD AND GUY OF GISBORNE The text is that printed by Child (III, 91) from the Percy MS. This is a perfect specimen of the purely narrative ballad; and what that implies may be felt by comparing it for a moment with a pure ballad of situation like Babylon. It is a long story, with epic characteristics from beginning to end: it has the formal introductory statement of time and place in stanza 1; it is throughout full of alliteration; it abounds in proverbial sayings, as in stanzas 4, 11, 19, etc.: it comments upon the story, as in stanza 36; it consciously guides the reader, as in stanza 21. Furthermore, in true epic style, it centres attention upon the fight, and describes it with a wealth of detail that is wholly unusual. All this is a far cry from the simplicity of those ballads which stand closer to choral origins. The loss of several stanzas at the beginning make the start a little confusing; and the confusion is still worse confounded by the shift to the past tense in the second stanza. In Hales and Furnivall's Bishop Percy's Folio MS. the second stanza is split to let in four lines, which help out the story, as follows: 2. by The woodweete sang and would not cease [So loud, he wakened Robin Hood, "Now, by my foy," said jolly Robin, concerning. 2. two wight yeomen: Child says (III, 89, 90): "Sir Guy being one, the other person pointed at must of course be the sheriff of Nottingham (who seems beyond his beat in Yorkshire, but outlaws can raise no questions of jurisdiction), in league with Sir Guy (a Yorkshireman, who has done many a curst turn) for the capture or slaying of Robin. The dream simply foreshadows danger from two quarters. But Robin Hood is nowhere informed, as we are, that the sheriff is out against him with seven score men, has attacked his camp, and taken John prisoner." 11. Barnesdale: one of Robin's favorite haunts in Yorkshire. 17. Good William a Trent: as inconsistent a phrase as "wee penknife " "three quarters long" in Johnie Cock. 24. Wilfull of my way, etc.: I have lost all trace of my way and of the time of morning. 27. unsett steven: time not previously fixed upon. 28. prickes: the wand used for a mark in shooting. One recalls here Scott's account of the shooting of Lockesley in Ivanhoe. 39. Ah, deere Lady: Robin's devotion to the Virgin is noticeable in all the ballads. So in the Gest we read: Euery day or he wold dyne Thre messes wolde he here, The one in the worship of the Fader, And another of the Holy Gost, The thirde of Our derë Lady, That he loved allther moste. 40. Akwarde: unexpected; or possibly, back-handed. 44. Put on that capull-hyde: as disguise. 48. To see how my men doe ffare: Robin cannot know that the sheriff is after him and his men. Child concludes that as "there is no cranny where it could have been thrust in, . . it will not be enough to suppose that verses have been dropped out; there must also have been a considerable derangement of the story." ... 56. rowstye by the roote: rusty not so much with dampness as with the blood of the slain. ROBIN HOOD'S DEATH AND BURIAL The text is that printed by Child (III, 106) from The English Archer, Paisley, 1786. There are two versions: the older one of the Percy MS., is imperfect; it is known as Robin Hoode his Death. The version here printed, although found only in late garlands, is, to quote Child, "in the fine old strain." Two chronicles of the sixteenth century, Grafton's and Holinshed's, record the main incidents of the ballad, Robin's going to the nunnery (Bircklies, or Bricklies) to be bled, and falling into the hands of his traitorous cousin; and the latter adds that Little John, after his master's death, fled to Ireland. Practically the same account is given in the Gest: Yet he was begyled, i-wys, Cryst haue mercy on his soule, That dyed on the rode! For he was a good outlawe, And dyde pore men moch god. 3. fair Kirkley: Kirklees nunnery, near Wakefield, in Yorkshire. 4. At the ring: the hammer of the door-knocker. 4. so ready as his cousin: in the older version the suggestion of betrayal comes sooner. Will Scarlett, to whom Robin there announces his intention of going to the nunnery, speaks as follows: "That I reade not," said Will Scarllett, 66 Master, by the assente of me, Without a halfe hundred of your best bowmen You take to goe with yee. "For there a good yeoman doth abide Will be sure to quarrell with thee, Robin, however, incensed by Will's caution, which he calls cowardice, takes Little John, and proceeds. On the way they meet weeping women whose words seem to have all the foreshadowing of coming doom of the witches in Macbeth: - We weepen for his [Robin's] deare body, That this day must be lett bloode. But Robin fears nothing, trusting wholly to the faithfulness of kin. 8. bleed all the live-long day: the older version has a graphic touch here. Cf. Hugh of Lincoln, stanza 8, and note thereon. The grave of Robin Hood, so called, is still pointed out to the curious. A cross is said to have once marked the spot, bearing an epitaph to the effect that Robert, Earl of Huntington, called "Robin Hood," died December 24, 1247, and was buried there. One version adds after the nineteenth stanza the following "foolish " lines evidently made to introduce the epitaph (cf. Child, III, 107). Thus he that never feared bow nor spear Was murderd by letting blood; And so, loving friends, the story it ends Of valiant Robin Hood. There's nothing remains but his epitaph now, Which, reader, here you have, To this very day which read you may, As it is upon his grave. Hey down a derry derry down. For the epitaph, however, we must go to still another ver sion (cf. Child, III, 107). Robert Earl of Huntington Lies under this little stone. No archer was like him so good, His wildness nam'd him Robin Hood. ROBIN HOOD RESCUING THE WIDOW'S THREE SONS The text is that printed by Child (III, 180) from The English Archer, Robin Hood's Garland, York edition, without date. There are three versions of this ballad, and it is also known as Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires. Out of the whole collection of thirty-six Robin Hood ballads, only five have come down to us in trustworthy ancient form; some twenty of the remainder belong to garlands or broadsides of the seventeenth century. Some of these have in them much of the popular quality, and others are "charwork." But, although inferior, they were well enough beloved in rural England. Their inferiority to a certain extent may be readily felt here after reading Guy of Gisborne, - there is a shrinkage in Robin's heroic stature and he seems a little more of an actor upon a stage; the ballad repetition is less effective and in parts tiresome; there is a consciousness in the style throughout. Yet the ballad retains what Gummere calls some "genuine old ballad stuff in its dotage"; and it is interesting as a study in transition between the earliest Robin Hood ballads, of which Child says, "none in England please so many and please so long," and those that are wholly degenerate, "sometimes wearisome, sometimes sickening" variations upon 66 "the theme, Robin Hood met with his match.'" 2. silly old woman: . . . three squires: in another version she claims them at once as her sons. 6. Bearing their long bows with thee: sufficient reason to the loyal Robin to bestir himself. 11. O thine apparel is good, etc. cf. with the change of apparel with the beggar in Hind Horn. The palmer naturally doubts Robin's sincerity, but the "twenty pieces of good broad gold" suffice to clinch the bargain. 13. The first bold bargain: the spirit of frolic always enters Robin's heart the moment he is embarked upon a new enterprise. Stage accessories, like the hat, cloak, shoes, etc., always add to his glee, for he enjoys "dressing up" as any boy would. 20. Some suits: in another version it is the clothes of the hanged men and their money that is offered to him. 21. jumps from stock to stone: total disguise is always impossible for Robin. |