4^3. forresters _for_ keepers. 5^3. bold _wanting_. 6^2. speak. 7^1. said. 7^2. that _wanting_. 7^3. the _wanting_: in _for_ of. 8^1. Come _wanting_. 9^2. you _wanting_. 9^3. we of you be. 10^1. the _for_ three. 10^3. we’l: to _wanting_. 11^3. _first_ we, do _wanting_. 14^1. hardy. 15^3. spend. 16^3. with my beagle. 17^1. is. 17^3. Thy blast: beagle. 18^3. never shall: we are. 20^3. thou wilt. 23^1. hereafter. 23^3. these. 137 ROBIN HOOD AND THE PEDLARS ‘Robinhood and the Peddlers,’ the fourth ballad in a MS. formerly in the possession of J. Payne Collier, now in the British Museum; previously printed in Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 351. The manuscript in which this ballad occurs contains a variety of matters, and, as the best authority[113] has declared, may in part have been written as early as 1650, but all the ballads are in a nineteenth-century hand, and some of them are maintained to be forgeries. I see no sufficient reason for regarding this particular piece as spurious, and therefore, though I should be glad to be rid of it, accept it for the present as perhaps a copy of a broadside, or a copy of a copy. The story resembles that of Robin Hood’s Delight, pedlars taking the place of keepers; but Robin is reduced to an ignominy paralleled only in the second ballad of Robin Hood and the Beggar. Robin Hood, accompanied by Scarlet and John, bids three pedlars stand. They pay no heed, and he sends an arrow through the pack of one of them. Hereupon they throw down their packs and wait for their assailants to come up. Robin’s bow is broken by a blow from a staff of one of the pedlars. Robin calls a truce until he and his men can get staves. There is then an equal fight, the end of which is that Robin Hood is knocked senseless and left in a swoon, tended by Scarlet and John. But before the pedlars set forward, Kit o Thirske, the best man of the three, and the one who has fought with Robin, administers a balsam to his fallen foe, which he says will heal his hurts, but which operates unpleasantly. Thirsk is about twenty miles from York, in the North Riding. 1 Will you heare a tale of Robin Hood, Will Scarlett, and Little John? Now listen awhile, it will make you smile, As before it hath many done. 2 They were archers three, of hie degree, As good as ever drewe bowe; Their arrowes were long and their armes were strong, As most had cause to knowe. 3 But one sommers day, as they toke their way Through the forrest of greene Sherwood, To kill the kings deare, you shall presently heare What befell these archers good. 4 They were ware on the roade of three peddlers with loade, Ffor each had his packe, Ffull of all wares for countrie faires, Trusst up upon his backe.