“Then give me soon thy coat of gray, And take thou my mantle of green ; Thy spindle and twine unto me resign, And take thou my arrows so keen.” And when Robin Hood was so araid, He went straight to his company, With his spindle and twine, he oft lookt behind, For the bishop and his company. O who is yonder, quoth little John, That now comes over the lee ? An arrow I will at her let flie, So like an old witch looks she. O hold thy hand, hold thy hand, said Robin Hood then, And shoot not thy arrows so keen ; I am Robin Hood, thy master good, And quickly it shall be seen. {173} The bishop he came to the old womans house, And called, with furious mood, Come let me soon see, and bring unto me That traitor Robin Hood. The old woman he set on a milk-white steed, Himselfe on a dapple gray ; And for joy he had got Robin Hood, He went laughing all the way. But as they were riding the forrest along, The bishop he ‘chanc’d’ for to see A hundred brave bowmen bold, Stand under the green-wood tree. O who is yonder, the bishop then said, That’s ranging within yonder wood ? Marry, says the old woman, I think it to be A man call’d Robin Hood. Why, who art thou, the bishop he said, Which I have here with me ? “Why, I am an old woman, thou cuckoldly bishop, Lift up my leg and see.” Then woe is me, the bishop he said, That ever I saw this day ! He turn’d him about, but Robin stout Call’d him, and bid him stay. {174} Then Robin took hold of the bishop’s horse, And ty’d him fast to a tree ; Then Little John smil’d his master upon, For joy of that company. Robin Hood took his mantle from’s back, And spread it upon the ground, And out of the bishops portmantle he Soon told five hundred pound. Now let him go, said Robin Hood. Said little John, That may not be ; For I vow and protest he shall sing us a mass, Before that he goe from me. Then Robin Hood took the bishop by the hand, And bound him fast to a tree, And made him sing a mass, god wot, To him and his yeomandree. And then they brought him through the wood, And set him on his dapple gray, And gave him the tail within his hand, And bade him for Robin Hood pray. {175} [Illustration] V. ROBIN HOOD AND THE BUTCHER. From an old black letter copy in the collection of Anthony Wood. The tune is “Robin Hood and the Begger.” Come, all you brave gallants, listen awhile, _With hey down, down, an a down_, That are ‘this bower’[292] within ; For of Robin Hood, that archer good, A song I intend for to sing. Upon a time it chanced so, Bold Robin in [the] forrest did ’spy A jolly butchèr, with a bonny fine mare, With his flesh to the market did hye. {176} Good morrow, good fellow, said jolly Robìn, What food hast [thou], tell unto me ? Thy trade to me tell, and where thou dost dwell, For I like well thy company.