StoryTitle("caps", "Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(1, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When shaws been sheen, and shradds full fair,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And leaves both large and long,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It is merry walking in the forest", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To hear the small bird's song.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The woodweele sang, and would not cease,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Sitting upon the spraye,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So loud, he wakened Robin Hood,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In the greenwood where he lay.", "") ?>
PagePoem(2, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Now, by my faye,\" said jolly Robin,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"A sweven I had this night:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I dreamt me of two wighty yeomen,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That fast with me can fight.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Methought they did me beat and bind,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And took my bow me fro';", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "If I be Robin alive in this land,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I'll be wroken on them two.\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(3, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Swevens are swift, master,\" quoth John,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"As the wind blows o'er the hill;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For if it be never so loud this night,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To-morrow it may be still.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Buske ye, bowne ye, my merry men all,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And John shall go with me,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For I'll go seek yond wight yeomen,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In greenwood where they be.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then they cast on their gowns of green,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And took their bows each one;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And they away to the green forest", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A-shooting forth are gone;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Until they came to the merry greenwood,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Where they had gladdest to be;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There were they ware of a wight yeoman,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "His body leaned to a tree.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A sword and a dagger he wore by his side,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Of many a man the bane;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And he was clad in his capul-hide,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Top and tail and mane.", "") ?>
PagePoem(4, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Stand you still, master,\" quoth Little John,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Under this tree so green,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And I will go to yonder wight yeoman", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To know what he doth mean.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Ah! John, by me thou settest no store,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And that I fairly find:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "How oft send I my men before,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And tarry myself behind?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It is no cunning a knave to ken,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And a man but hear him speak:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And it were not for bursting of my bow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "John, I thy head would break.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As often words they breed bale,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "So they parted Robin and John;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And John is gone to Barnesdale;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The gates he knoweth each one.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But when he came to Barnesdale,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Great heaviness there he had,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For he found two of his own fellows", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Were slain both in a slade.", "") ?>
PagePoem(5, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And Scarlet he was flying a-foot", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Fast over stock and stone,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For the sheriff with seven score men", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Fast after him is gone.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"One shoot now I will shoot,\" quoth John,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"With Christ his might and main;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I'll make yonder fellow that flies so fast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To stop he shall be fain.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then John bent up his long bend-bow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And fetteled him to shoot:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The bow was made of tender bough,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And fell down to his foot.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Woe worth, woe worth thee, wicked wood,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That ere thou grew on a tree;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For now this day thou art my bale,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "My boot when thou should be.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His shoot it was but loosely shot,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Yet flew not the arrow in vain,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For it met one of the sheriff's men,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Good William a Trent was slain.", "") ?>
PagePoem(6, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It had been better of William a Trent", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To have been abed with sorrow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Than to be that day in the green-wood slade,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To meet with Little John's arrow.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But as it is said, when men be met", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Five can do more than three,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The sheriff hath taken Little John,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And bound him fast to a tree.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Thou shalt be drawn by dale and down,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And hanged high on a hill;\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"But thou mayest fail of thy purpose,\" quoth John,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"If it be Christ his will.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Let us leave talking of Little John,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And think of Robin Hood,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "How he is gone to the wight yeoman,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Where under the leaves he stood.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Good morrow, good fellow,\" said Robin so fair,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Good morrow, good fellow,\" quoth he.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Methinks by this bow thou bears in thy hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A good archer thou shouldst be.\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(7, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"I am willful of my way,\" quo' the yeoman.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"And of my morning tide;\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"I'll lead thee through the wood,\" said Robin,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Good fellow, I'll be thy guide.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"I seek an outlaw,\" the stranger said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Men call him Robin Hood;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Rather I'd meet with that proud outlaw", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Than forty pound so good.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Now come with me, thou wight yeoman.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And Robin thou soon shalt see;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But first let us some pastime find", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Under the green-wood tree.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "First let us some mastery make", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Among the woods so even;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "We may chance to meet with Robin Hood", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Here at some unset steven.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They cut them down two summer shroggs", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That grew both under a brier,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And set them threescore rod in twain,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To shoot the pricks y-fere.", "") ?>
PagePoem(8, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Lead on, good fellow,\" quoth Robin Hood,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Lead on, I do bid thee.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Nay, by my faith, good fellow,\" he said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"My leader thou shalt be.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The first time Robin shot at the prick,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He missed but an inch if fro';", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The yeoman he was an archer good,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "But he could never shoot so.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The second shot had the wighty yeoman,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He shot within the garland;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But Robin he shot far better than he,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "For he clave the good prick-wand.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"A blessing upon thy heart,\" he said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Good fellow, thy shooting is good;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For an thy heart be as good as thy hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Thou wert better than Robin Hood.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Now tell me thy name, good fellow,\" said he,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Under the leaves of lyne.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Nay, by my faith,\" quoth bold Robin,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Till thou have told me thine.\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(9, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"I dwell by dale and down,\" quoth he,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"And Robin to take I'm sworn;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when I am called by my right name,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I am Guy of good Gisborne.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"My dwelling is in this wood,\" says Robin,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"By thee I set right nought;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I am Robin Hood of Barnesdale;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Whom thou so long hast sought.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He that had neither beene kith nor kin", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Might have seen a full fair sight,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To see how together these yeomen went", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With blades both brown and bright:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To see how these yeomen together fought", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Two hours of a summer's day,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Yet neither Robin Hood nor Sir Guy", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Them fettled to fly away.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Robin was reckless on a root,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And stumbled at that tide;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And Guy was quick and nimble withal,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And hit him o'er the left side.", "") ?>
PagePoem(10, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Ah, dear Lady,\" said Robin Hood tho,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Thou art both mother and may;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I think it was never man's destiny", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To die before his day.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Robin thought on our Lady dear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And soon leapt up again,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And straight he came with a 'backward' stroke", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And he Sir Guy hath slain.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He took Sir Guy's head by the hair,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And stuck it upon his bow's end:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Thou hast been a traitor all thy life,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Which thing must have an end.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Robin pulled forth an Irish knife,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And nicked Sir Guy in the face,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That he was never on woman born", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Could tell whose head it was.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Says, \"Lie there, lie there now, Sir Guy,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And with me not be wroth;", "") ?>
PagePoem(11, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "If thou have had the worst strokes at my hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Thou shalt have the better cloth.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Robin did off his gown of green,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And on Sir Guy did throw,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And he put on that capul-hide,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That clad him top to toe.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"The bow, the arrows, and little horn", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Now with me I will bear;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For I will away to Barnesdale,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To see how my men do fare.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Robin Hood set Guy's horn to his mouth,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And a loud blast in it did blow:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That beheard the sheriff of Nottingham", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "As he leaned under a lowe.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Hearken, hearken,\" said the sheriff,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"I hear now tidings good,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For yonder I hear Sir Guy's horn blow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And he hath slain Robin Hood.", "") ?>
PagePoem(12, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Yonder I hear Sir Guy's horn blow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "It blows so well in tide,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And yonder comes that wighty yeoman,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Clad in his capul-hide.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Come hither, come hither, thou good Sir Guy,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Ask what thou wilt of me.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Oh, I will none of thy gold,\" said Robin,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Nor I will none of thy fee.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But now I have slain the master,\" he says,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Let me go strike the knave:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For this is all the reward I ask,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Nor no other will I have.\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(13, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Thou art a madman,\" said the sheriff,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Thou shouldst have had a knight's fee;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But seeing thy asking hath been so bad,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Well granted it shall be.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When Little John heard his master speak,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Well knew he it was his steven;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Now shall I be loosed,\" quoth Little John,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"With Christ his might in heaven.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fast Robin he hied him to Little John,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He thought to loose him belive:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The sheriff and all his company", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Fast after him can drive.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Stand aback, stand aback,\" said Robin;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Why draw you me so near?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was never the use in our country,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "One's shrift another should hear.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But Robin pulled forth an Irish knife,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And loosed John hand and foot,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And gave him Sir Guy's bow into his hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And bade it be his boot.", "") ?>
PagePoem(14, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then John he took Guy's bow in his hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "His bolts and arrows each one:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When the sheriff saw Little John bend his bow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He fettled him to be gone.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Towards his house in Nottingham town", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He fled full fast away,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And so did all the company;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Not one behind would stay.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But he could neither run so fast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Nor away so fast could ride,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But Little John with an arrow so broad", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He shot him into the side.", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>