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.
APPENDIX
THE PLAY OF ROBIN HOOD
(1–110)
#a.#
Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 192, as printed by William Copland,
at the end of his edition of the Gest.
#b.#
As printed by Edward White, at the end of his edition of the Gest:
Bodleian Library, Z. 3. Art. Seld.
ROBYN HODE
Now stand ye forth, my mery men all,
And harke what I shall say;
Of an adventure I shal you tell,
The which befell this other day.
As I went by the hygh way, 5
With a stout frere I met,
And a quarter-staffe in his hande.
Lyghtely to me he lept,
And styll he bade me stande.
There were strypes two or three, 10
But I cannot tell who had the worse,
But well I wote the horeson lept within me,
And fro me he toke my purse.
Is there any of my mery men all
That to that frere wyll go, 15
And bryng hym to me forth withall,
Whether he wyll or no?
LYTELL JOHN
Yes, mayster, I make God avowe,
To that frere wyll I go,
And bring him to you, 20
Whether he wyl or no.
FRYER TUCKE
_Deus hic! deus hic!_ God be here!
Is not this a holy worde for a frere?
God save all this company!
But am not I a jolly fryer? 25
For I can shote both farre and nere,
And handle the sworde and buckler,
And this quarter-staffe also.
If I mete with a gentylman or yeman,
I am not afrayde to loke hym upon, 30
Nor boldly with him to carpe;
If he speake any wordes to me,
He shall have strypes two or thre,
That shal make his body smarte.
But, maisters, to shew you the matter 35
Wherfore and why I am come hither,
In fayth I wyll not spare.
I am come to seke a good yeman,
In Bernisdale men sai is his habitacion,
His name is Robyn Hode. 40
And if that he be better man than I,
His servaunt wyll I be, and serve him truely;
But if that I be better man than he,
By my truth my knave shall he be,
And leade these dogges all three. 45
ROBYN HODE
Yelde the, fryer, in thy long cote.
FRYER TUCKE
I beshrew thy hart, knave, thou hurtest my throt[e].
ROBYN HODE
I trowe, fryer, thou beginnest to dote;
Who made the so malapert and so bolde
To come into this forest here, 50
Amonge my falowe dere?
FRYER
Go louse the, ragged knave.
If thou make mani wordes, I will geve the on the eare,
Though I be but a poore fryer.
To seke Robyn Hode I am com here, 55
And to him my hart to breke.
ROBYN HODE
Thou lousy frer, what wouldest thou with hym?
He never loved fryer, nor none of freiers kyn.
FRYER
Avaunt, ye ragged knave!
Or ye shall have on the skynne. 60
ROBYN HODE
Of all the men in the morning thou art the worst,
To mete with the I have no lust;
For he that meteth a frere or a fox in the morning,
To spede ill that day he standeth in jeoperdy.
Therfore I had lever mete with the devil of hell, 65
(Fryer, I tell the as I thinke,)
Then mete with a fryer or a fox
In a mornyng, or I drynk.
FRYER
Avaunt, thou ragged knave! this is but a mock;
If thou make mani words thou shal have a knock. 70
ROBYN HODE
Harke, frere, what I say here:
Over this water thou shalt me bere,
The brydge is borne away.
FRYER
To say naye I wyll not;
To let the of thine oth it were great pitie and sin; 75
But up on a fryers backe, and have even in!
ROBYN HODE
Nay, have over.
FRYER
Now am I, frere, within, and thou, Robin, without,
To lay the here I have no great doubt.
Now art thou, Robyn, without, and I, frere, within, 80
Lye ther, knave; chose whether thou wilte sinke or swym.
ROBYN HODE
Why, thou lowsy frere, what hast thou done?
FRYER
Mary, set a knave over the shone.
ROBYN HODE
Therfore thou shalt abye.
FRYER
Why, wylt thou fyght a plucke? 85
ROBYN HODE
And God send me good lucke.
FRYER
Than have a stroke for fryer Tucke.
ROBYN HODE
Holde thy hande, frere, and here me speke.
FRYER
Say on, ragged knave,
Me semeth ye begyn to swete. 90
ROBYN HODE
In this forest I have a hounde,
I wyl not give him for an hundreth pound.
Geve me leve my horne to blowe,
That my hounde may knowe.
FRYER
Blowe on, ragged knave, without any doubte, 95
Untyll bothe thyne eyes starte out.
Here be a sorte of ragged knaves come in,
Clothed all in Kendale grene,
And to the they take their way nowe.
ROBYN HODE
Peradventure they do so. 100
FRYER
I gave the leve to blowe at thy wyll,
Now give me leve to whistell my fyll.
ROBYN HODE
Whystell, frere, evyl mote thou fare!
Untyll bothe thyne eyes stare.
FRYER
Now Cut and Bause! 105
Breng forth the clubbes and staves,
And downe with those ragged knaves!
ROBYN HODE
How sayest thou, frere, wylt thou be my man,
To do me the best servyse thou can?
Thou shalt have both golde and fee. 110
* * * * *
After ten lines of ribaldry, which have no pertinency to the traditional
Robin Hood and Friar, the play abruptly passes to the adventure of Robin
Hood and the Potter.
#a.#
_Ritson has been followed, without collation with Copland._
35. maister.
64. spede ell.
70. you, you _for_ thou, thou.
82. donee.
104. starte.
#b.#
13. he _wanting_.
15. to the.
23. word of.
31. Not.
35. maister.
41. if he.
43. be a.
59. ye _wanting_.
61. in a.
65. had rather: of hell _wanting_.
70. y^u: y^u shalt.
81. choose either sinke.
97. Here is.
103. might thou.
104. stare.
124
THE JOLLY PINDER OF WAKEFIELD
#A. a.# Wood, 402, leaf 43. #b.# Garland of 1663, No 4. #c.# Garland
of 1670, No 3. #d.# Pepys, II, 100, No 87 a. #e.# Wood, 401, leaf 61
b.
#B.# Percy MS., p. 15; Hales and Furnivall, I, 32.
Printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 16, from one of Wood’s copies,
“compared with two other copies in the British Museum, one in black
letter:” Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 99.
There is another copy in the Roxburghe collection, III, 24, and there
are two in the Bagford.
‘A ballett of Wakefylde and a grene’ is entered to Master John Wallye
and Mistress Toye, 19 July, 1557–9 July, 1558: Stationers’ Registers,
Arber, I, 76.