Into the cave, then, with thy feather-bed. Old Much, thy father, waits thee there to make A table of green turfs for Robin Hood. We shall have guests anon, O merry times, Baron and Knight and abbot, all that ride Through Sherwood, all shall come and dine with him When they have paid their toll! Old Much is there Growling at thy delay. MUCH [_Going towards the cave._] O, my poor father. Now, there's a sad thing, too. He is so ashamed Of his descendants. Why for some nine years He shut his eyes whenever he looked at me; And I have seen him on the village green Pretend to a stranger, once, who badgered him With curious questions, that I was the son Of poor old Gaffer Bramble, the lame sexton. That self-same afternoon, up comes old Bramble White hair a-blaze and big red waggling nose All shaking with the palsy; bangs our door Clean off its hinges with his crab-tree crutch, And stands there--framed--against the sunset sky! He stretches out one quivering fore-finger At father, like the great Destroying Angel In the stained window: straight, the milk boiled over, The cat ran, baby squalled and mother screeched. Old Bramble asks my father--what--what--what He meant--he meant--he meant! You should have seen My father's hopeless face! Lord, how he blushed, Red as a beet-root! Lord, Lord, how he blushed! 'Tis a hard business when a parent looks Askance upon his offspring. [_Exit into the cave._] LITTLE JOHN Skip, you chatterer! Here comes our master. [_Enter ROBIN HOOD._] Master, where hast thou been? I feared some harm had come to thee. What's this? This was a cloth-yard shaft that tore thy coat! ROBIN Oh, ay, they barked my shoulder, devil take them. I got it on the borders of the wood. St. Nicholas, my lad, they're on the watch. LITTLE JOHN What didst thou there? They're on the watch, i' faith! A squirrel could not pass them. Why, my namesake Prince John would sell his soul to get thy head, And both his ears for Lady Marian; And whether his ears or soul be worth the more, I know not. When the first lark flittered up To sing, at dawn, I woke; and thou wast gone. What didst thou there? ROBIN Well, first I went to swim In the deep pool below the mill. LITTLE JOHN I swam Enough last night to last me many a day. What then? ROBIN I could not wash away the thought Of all you told me. If Prince John should dare! That helpless girl! No, no, I will not think it. Why, Little John, I went and tried to shoot A grey goose wing thro' Lady Marian's casement. LITTLE JOHN