"O welcome, O welcome," the bishop he said, "That musick best pleaseth me." "You shall have no musick," quoth Robin Hood, "Till the bride and the bridegroom I see." With that came in a wealthy knight, Which was both grave and old, And after him a finikin* lass, Did shine like glistering gold. *[Footnote: Finikin here means dainty.] "This is not a fit match," quod bold Robin Hood, "That you do seem to make here, For since we are come into the church, The bride shall chuse her own dear." Then Robin Hood put his horn to his mouth, And blew blasts two or three; When four and twenty bowmen bold Came leaping over the lee. And when they came into the church-yard, Marching all on a row, The first man was Allin a Dale, To give bold Robin his bow. "This is thy true love," Robin he said, "Young Allin, as I hear say; And you shall be married at this same time, Before we depart away." "That shall not be," the bishop he said, "For thy word shall not stand; They shall be three times askt in the church, As the law is of our land." Robin Hood pull'd off the bishop's coat, And put it upon Little John: "By the faith of my body," then Robin said, "This cloth doth make thee a man." When Little John went into the quire,* The people began to laugh; He askt them seven times into church, Lest three times should not be enough. *[Footnote: Quire is an old spelling of choir. It here means the choir loft.] "Who gives me this maid?" said Little John. Quoth Robin Hood, "That do I; And he that takes her from Allin a Dale, Full dearly he shall her buy." Thus having ended this merry wedding, The bride lookt like a queen; And so they returned to the merry greenwood, Amongst the leaves so green. ROLAND AT RONCESVALLES NOTE,--The greatest legendary hero of France is Roland, one of Charlmagne's knights. His deeds are told in Chansons De Roland (Songs of Roland). These songs correspond to the legends of King Arthur in England and to the stories of the Cid in Spain. Every nation possesses a few of these great characters whose lives have furnished incidents without number to enrich the literature of the land. Roland shines as one of the finest of national heroes. Charlemagne, old and gray, grown weary with fighting and the conquest of Europe, sat at ease among his noble councilors in the shade of a great tree in northern Spain. Around him were camped the mighty hosts that he had led against the Saracens, and now the leaders were talking over their plans for the future. Only one strong castle, the great fortress of Zaragoz, on a steep and rugged mountain top, held out against him after his seven years of combat against the Mohammedans in Spain. So heavy were the walls of this stronghold and so difficult the guarded paths that led up to it that it seemed impossible for man to take it. One after another, the valorous knights, the twelve great paladins of Charlemagne gave their opinions, but no conclusion could be reached.