24 ‘No meat, nor drink,’ said Robin Hood then, ‘That I come here to crave; But to beg the lives of yeomen three, And that I fain would have.’ 25 ‘That cannot be, thou bold beggar, Their fact it is so cleer; I tell to thee, hangd they must be, For stealing of our kings deer.’ 26 But when to the gallows they did come, There was many a weeping eye: ‘O hold your peace,’ said Robin then, ‘For certainly they shall not dye.’ 27 Then Robin he set his horn to his mouth, And he blew but blastes three, Till a hundred bold archers brave Came kneeling down to his knee. 28 ‘What is your will, master?’ they said, ‘We are here at your command:’ ‘Shoot east, shoot west,’ said Robin Hood then, ‘And look that you spare no man.’ 29 Then they shot east, and they shot west; Their arrows were so keen The sheriffe he, and his companie, No longer must be seen. 30 Then he stept to these brethren three, And away he had them tane; But the sheriff was crost, and many a man lost, That dead lay on the plain. 31 And away they went into the merry green wood, And sung with a merry glee, And Robin took these brethren good To be of his yeomandrie. * * * * * #a.# Robin Hood and the Beggar: Shewing how Robin Hood and the Beggar fought, and how he changed clothes with the Beggar, and how he went a begging to Nottingham, and how he saved three brethren from being hangd for stealing of deer. To the tune of Robin Hood and the Stranger. _Signed_ T. R. London, Printed for Francis Grove, on Snowhill. (1620–55.) _Burden_: an a. 1^1. light _in all: a corruption of_ lyth. 2^2. archrey. 3^4. friend or foe: _cf._ #b#, #c#. 4^2. angell. 6^1. had one. 10^1. tell the. 12^1. saffe. 21^3. brethred. 27^4. dow. 31^4. yeomandriee. #b#, #c#. _Title as in #a#. Not signed. Burden sometimes_, With hey, _etc._, or, With a hey, _etc._; _once, in_ #c#, Hey derry derry down. #b.# 3^4. friends or foes. 4^2. angels. 7^1. Hood then. 7^2. unto. 8^3. he _wanting_. 9^3. doth know. 10^2. with thee. 10^4. lay. 16^1. said _for_ cri’d. 20^1. he _wanting_. 21^4. was for to. 22^1. sheriffs house. 27^2. he _wanting_. 30^2. them had. #c.# 3^4. friends or foes. 4^2. angels. 7^1. Hood then. 7^2. unto. 8^3. living. 10^2. with thee. 19^4. known _for_ behind. 21^4. for to. 22^1. sheriffs house. 25^3. they hanged. 27^2. he _wanting_. 30^2. them had. #d.# _Title as in_ #a#: _except_ of the king’s deer. _Not signed._ Printed for I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger. (1670–86.) _Burden_: With a hey down down and a down.