47. ‘Hearken! hearken!’ said the sheriff, ‘I heard no tidings but good; For yonder I hear Sir Guy’s horn blow, For he hath slain Robin Hood.’
48. ‘For yonder I hear Sir Guy’s horn blow, It blows so well in tide, For yonder comes that wighty yeoman, Clad in his capul-hide.
49. ‘Come hither, thou good Sir Guy, Ask of me what thou wilt have’: ‘I’ll none of thy gold,’ says Robin Hood, ‘Nor I’ll none of it have.’
50. ‘But now I have slain the master,’ he said, ‘Let me go strike the knave; This is all the reward I ask, Nor no other will I have.’
51. ‘Thou art a madman,’ said the sheriff, ‘Thou shouldest have had a knight’s fee; Seeing thy asking hath been so bad, Well granted it shall be.’
52. But Little John heard his master speak, Well he knew that was his steven; ‘Now shall I be loosed,’ quoth Little John, ‘With Christ’s might in heaven.’
53. But Robin he hied him towards Little John, He thought he would loose him belive; The sheriff and all his company Fast after him did drive.
54. ‘Stand aback! stand aback!’ said Robin; ‘Why draw you me so near? It was never the use in our country One’s shrift another should hear.’
55. But Robin pulled forth an Irish knife, And loosed John hand and foot, And gave him Sir Guy’s bow in his hand, And bade it be his boot.
56. But John took Guy’s bow in his hand (His arrows were rawsty by the root); The sheriff saw Little John draw a bow And fettle him to shoot.
57. Towards his house in Nottingham He fled full fast away, And so did all his company, Not one behind did stay.
58. But he could neither so fast go, Nor away so fast run, But Little John, with an arrow broad, Did cleave his heart in twain.
[Annotations: 1.1: ‘shaws,’ woods: ‘sheen,’ beautiful: ‘shradds,’ copses. 2.1: ‘woodweel,’ a small warbler. Percy, Ritson, Hazlitt, Halliwell, Child, Murray, Hales, and Furnivall, have variously identified it with the woodpecker, woodlark, redbreast, greenfinch, nuthatch, and ‘golden ouzle.’ 2.2: ‘lyne,’ tree. 3.4: ‘wroken,’ avenged. 4.1: ‘swevens,’ dreams. 5.1: ‘Busk ye, bown ye’ = get ready. 7.3: ‘capul-hide,’ horse-skin. 10.2: ‘And’ = if. So in next line. 12.4: ‘slade,’ valley, ravine. 15.2: ‘fettled,’ prepared. 16.3,4: ‘bale, boot,’ trouble, help. 20.1: ‘quoth the sheriff’ is added in the MS. 22.2: See 2.2 and 33.2, where it is obviously a commonplace. 24.1,2: Sir Guy means he has lost his way, and does not know the time of day. 26.1: ‘whether’ = which of the two. Robin, of course, is speaking. 27.1: ‘masteries,’ feats of skill. 27.4: ‘unset Steven,’ unfixed time: _i.e._ by chance. 28.1: ‘shroggy,’ wands, sticks. 28.4: ‘pricks,’ marks for shooting at. 31.2,4: The ‘garland’ was simply a circular wreath, hung upon the ‘prick-wand,’ or upright stick. 35.2: ‘set by’ = care for. 36.4: ‘brown’: see _Glossary of Ballad Commonplaces_, First Series, p. xlix. 38.1: ‘reckless on,’ heedless of. 40.3: ‘awkward,’ unexpected: another ballad-commonplace. 42.3: ‘That’ = so that. 45.4: We are not told how Robin knew what his men were doing. 46.4: ‘low,’ hill. 52.2: ‘steven,’ voice. 53.2: ‘belive,’ forthwith. 56.2: ‘rawsty by the root.’ It is suggested that this means rusty (_i.e._ with blood) at the root (tip, end).]