Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][merged small]
[graphic]

N the summer time, when leaves grow green,
And flowers are fresh and gay,

Robin Hood and his merry men

Were all disposed to play.

Then some would leap, and some would run,
And some would use artillery;

Which of you can a good bow draw,
A good archer for to be?

Which of you can kill a buck?

Or who can kill a doe?

Or who can kill a hart of grease,*

Five hundred foot him fro'?

* Fat hart.

Will Scarlet he kill'd a buck,

And Midge he kill'd a doe;

And Little John kill'd a hart of grease,

Five hundred foot him fro'.

God's blessing on thy heart, said Robin Hood, That shot such a shot for me;

I would ride my horse an hundred miles

To find one to match thee.

That caused Will Scarlet to laugh,

He laugh'd full heartily;

There lives a friar in Fountain's Abbey

Will beat both him and thee.

The curtal friar in Fountain's Abbey
Well can draw a good strong bow ;
He will beat both you and your yeomen,
Set them all on a row.

Robin Hood took a solemn oath,

It was by Mary free,

That he would neither eat nor drink,

Till the friar he did see.

Robin Hood put on his harness good,
On his head a cap of steel;

Broad sword and buckler by his side,
And they became him well.

He took his bow into his hand,
(It was of a trusty tree)

With a sheaf of arrows by his side
And to Fountain Dale went he.

And coming unto fair Fountain Dale,
No farther would he ride:

There was he 'ware of a curtal friar,
Walking by the water-side...

The friar had on a harness good,
On his head a cap of steel;
Broad sword and buckler by his side,
And they became him well.

Robin Hood lighted off his horse,

And tied him to a thorn :

Carry me over the water, thou curtal friar, Or else thy life's forlorn.

[blocks in formation]
[graphic][merged small][subsumed][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »