It was to be a very grand wedding, and the Bishop of Hereford himself was to perform the ceremony. He came with a long train of followers, and as he entered he saw Robin with his harp beside the door. "Now, who are you?" he asked, well pleased, for everybody loved to see a minstrel. "I am a harper from the north country," answered Robin Hood. "I can play such music as never another in all England can do. For there is magic in my harping, and if I play at this wedding, it will insure that the fair bride shall love the man she marries with her whole heart all her life long." "Marry then, let him play," said Sir Stephen, the old bridegroom. He knew that it was her father's will instead of her own wish that made the fair Ellen marry him. But he did not know that she loved another, for her father had concealed it from him. And now the bride's father brought in the bride, and she was the most beautiful maiden they had ever seen. But she was pale and wan and she drooped on her father's arm like a broken lily. "How is this?" cried Robin Hood. "A bride should be like a blushing rose. Maiden, is it of your own free will that you wed with this knight?" "No, no," sobbed fair Ellen. "I wish to wed no one but my own true love, Allen-a-Dale the minstrel." "Then Allen-a-Dale ye shall wed," cried Robin Hood, and set his bugle to his lips and blew. The followers who had entered the church and Friar Tuck came running down the aisles and gathered around him. Then came a scene of confusion. The bishop of Hereford, the prior of Emmet and all his train commanded the people to seize Robin Hood, but they would not do it. The old knight who was the bridegroom sought to draw his sword, but he wore no sword on his wedding day. "At them and slay them," he cried to his men-at-arms. But just at that minute there came running up at double quick the rest of Robin Hood's men, with swords drawn and bows and arrows hanging at their backs. "I will depart," said the bridegroom to the bride's father. "I would not marry your daughter now for all the kingdom of England." He spoke angrily, for he felt that he had been cheated, not knowing that the maiden loved some one else. The prior of Emmet, calling his train, also departed in high displeasure, and the bishop of Hereford would have gone too, but Robin bade him stay. "Now," he said, "we will have a wedding, and fair Ellen shall marry Allen-a-Dale." "Ye cannot." The prior of Emmet turned back to say this. "You have no priest to marry them." "Am I not a priest?" bellowed Friar Tuck, so fiercely that the prior shook in his pointed shoes and made haste to get away. "But the banns have not been published," said the bride's father. "I will publish them," roared Friar Tuck; and the old song says that he cried them three times, the number required by law, and then, lest that should not be enough, he cried them six times more.