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Then at last jolly Robin turned to the Bishop of Hereford,
who had been looking on at all that passed with a grim look.
"My Lord Bishop," quoth he, "thou mayst bring to thy mind that thou
didst promise me that did I play in such wise as to cause this fair
lass to love her husband, thou wouldst give me whatsoever I asked
in reason. I have played my play, and she loveth her husband,
which she would not have done but for me; so now fulfill thy promise.
Thou hast upon thee that which, methinks, thou wouldst be the
better without; therefore, I prythee, give me that golden chain
that hangeth about thy neck as a wedding present for this fair bride."
Then the Bishop's cheeks grew red with rage and his eyes flashed.
He looked at Robin with a fell look, but saw that in the yeoman's
face which bade him pause. Then slowly he took the chain
from about his neck and handed it to Robin, who flung it over
Ellen's head so that it hung glittering about her shoulders.
Then said merry Robin, "I thank thee, on the bride's part,
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for thy handsome gift, and truly thou thyself art more seemly
without it. Now, shouldst thou ever come nigh to Sherwood I
much hope that I shall give thee there such a feast as thou
hast ne'er had in all thy life before."
"May Heaven forfend!" cried the Bishop earnestly; for he knew
right well what manner of feast it was that Robin Hood gave
his guests in Sherwood Forest.
But now Robin Hood gathered his men together, and, with Allan
and his young bride in their midst, they all turned
their footsteps toward the woodlands. On the way thither
Friar Tuck came close to Robin and plucked him by the sleeve.
"Thou dost lead a merry life, good master," quoth he,
"but dost thou not think that it would be for the welfare
of all your souls to have a good stout chaplain, such as I,
to oversee holy matters? Truly, I do love this life mightily."
At this merry Robin Hood laughed amain, and bade him stay
and become one of their band if he wished.
That night there was such a feast held in the greenwood as Nottinghamshire
never saw before. To that feast you and I were not bidden, and pity it is
that we were not; so, lest we should both feel the matter the more keenly,
I will say no more about it.
Robin Hood Aids a Sorrowful Knight
SO PASSED the gentle springtime away in budding beauty; its silver
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showers and sunshine, its green meadows and its flowers. So, likewise,
passed the summer with its yellow sunlight, its quivering heat and deep,
bosky foliage, its long twilights and its mellow nights, through which
the frogs croaked and fairy folk were said to be out on the hillsides.
All this had passed and the time of fall had come, bringing with it its own
pleasures and joyousness; for now, when the harvest was gathered home,
merry bands of gleaners roamed the country about, singing along the roads in
the daytime, and sleeping beneath the hedgerows and the hay-ricks at night.
Now the hips burned red in the tangled thickets and the hews waxed
black in the hedgerows, the stubble lay all crisp and naked to the sky,
and the green leaves were fast turning russet and brown. Also, at this
merry season, good things of the year are gathered in in great store.
Brown ale lies ripening in the cellar, hams and bacon hang in the smoke-shed,
and crabs are stowed away in the straw for roasting in the wintertime,
when the north wind piles the snow in drifts around the gables and the fire
crackles warm upon the hearth.
So passed the seasons then, so they pass now, and so they will pass
in time to come, while we come and go like leaves of the tree that fall
and are soon forgotten.
Quoth Robin Hood, snuffing the air, "Here is a fair day,
Little John, and one that we can ill waste in idleness.
Choose such men as thou dost need, and go thou east while I
will wend to the west, and see that each of us bringeth back
some goodly guest to dine this day beneath the greenwood tree."
"Marry," cried Little John, clapping his palms together
for joy, "thy bidding fitteth my liking like heft to blade.
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I'll bring thee back a guest this day, or come not back
mine own self." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]