+Argument.+--The Sheriff of Nottingham secures the assistance of the
High Sheriff, and besets the knight's castle, accusing him of harbouring
the king's enemies. The knight bids him appeal to the king, saying he
will 'avow' (_i.e._ make good or justify) all he has done, on the pledge
of all his lands. The sheriffs raise the siege and go to London, where
the king says he will be at Nottingham in two weeks and will capture
both the knight and Robin Hood. The sheriff returns home to get together
a band of archers to assist the king; but meanwhile Robin has escaped to
the greenwood. However, the sheriff lies in wait for the knight,
captures him and takes him bound to Nottingham. The knight's lady rides
to Robin and begs him to save her lord; whereupon Robin and his men
hasten to Nottingham, kill the sheriff, release the knight, and carry
him off to the greenwood.
The latter episode--of Robin's release, at the request of his wife, of a
knight taken captive by the sheriff--comes probably from a separate
ballad: _Robin Hood rescuing Three Squires_ tells a similar story. This
the compiler of the _Gest_ has apparently woven in with the story of the
previous fyttes, though he has not done so very thoroughly (_e.g._, the
inconsistency of Robin's question to the knight's wife, 'What man hath
your lord i-take?' with his knowledge of the knight's defiance of the
sheriff). The compiler has also neatly prepared the way for the
introduction of the seventh and eighth fyttes by the knight's appeal to
the king; but, having done so, he has apparently forgotten the king's
undertaking to come to Nottingham, and has allowed the sheriff to
anticipate that plan and capture the knight without assistance.