"I have no money," then quoth the young man,

"No ready gold nor fee,

But I will swear upon a book

Thy true servant for to be.”

"How many miles is it to thy true love?

Come tell me without any guile:"

"By the faith of my body," then said the young man, "It is but five little mile."

Then Robin he hasted over the plain,

He did neither stint nor lin,

Until he came unto the church,

Where Allin should keep his wedding.

"What hast thou here?" the bishop he said, "I prithee now tell unto me:"

"I am a bold harper," quoth Robin Hood, "And the best in the north country."

"O welcome, O welcome," the bishop he said, "That musick best pleaseth me;"

"You shall have no musick," quoth Robin Hood, "Till the bride and the bridegroom I see."

With that came in a wealthy knight,

Which was both grave and old,

And after him a finikin lass,

Did shine like the glistering gold.

"This is not a fit match," quoth bold Robin Hood, "That you do seem to make here;

For since we are come into the church,
The bride shall chuse her own dear."

Then Robin Hood put his horn to his mouth,
And blew blasts two or three;

When four and twenty bowmen bold

Came leaping over the lee.

And when they came into the church-yard,

Marching all in a row,

The first man was Allin a Dale,

To give bold Robin his bow.

"This is thy true love," Robin he said,
"Young Allin, as I hear say;

And you shall be married at this same time,
Before we depart away."

"That shall not be," the bishop he said,
"For thy word shall not stand;

They shall be three times askt in the church,
As the law is of our land."

Robin Hood pulled off the bishop's coat,
And put it upon Little John;

"By the faith of my body," then Robin said,
"This cloth doth make thee a man."

When Little John went into the quire,
The people began for to laugh;

He askt them seven times in the church,
Lest three times should not be enough.

"Who gives me this maid?" then said Little John; Quoth Robin Hood, "That do I;

And he that takes her from Allin a Dale

Full dearly he shall her buy."

And thus having ende of this merry wedding,
The bride lookt like a queen,

And so they returned to the merry greenwood,
Amongst the leaves so green.

Anonymous

SONG OF SHERWOOD

Sherwood in the twilight, is Robin Hood awake?
Gray and ghostly shadows are gliding through the brake,
Shadows of the dappled deer, dreaming of the morn,
Dreaming of a shadowy man that winds a shadowy horn.

Robin Hood is here again: all his merry thieves
Hear a ghostly bugle-note shivering through the leaves,
Calling as he used to call, faint and far away,
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

Merry, merry England has kissed the lips of June:
All the wings of fairyland were here beneath the moon,
Like a flight of rose-leaves fluttering in a mist
Of opal and ruby and pearl and amethyst.

Merry, merry England is waking as of old,

With eyes of blither hazel and hair of brighter gold:
For Robin Hood is here again beneath the bursting spray
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

Love is in the greenwood building him a house
Of wild rose and hawthorn and honeysuckle boughs;
Love is in the greenwood: dawn is in the skies;
And Marian is waiting with a glory in her eyes.

Hark! The dazzled laverock climbs the golden steep!
Marian is waiting: is Robin Hood asleep?

Round the fairy grass-rings frolic elf and fay,

In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

Oberon, Oberon, rake away the gold,

Rake away the red leaves, roll away the mould,
Rake away the gold leaves, roll away the red,
And wake Will Scarlett from his leafy forest bed.

Friar Tuck and Little John are riding down together
With quarter staff and drinking can and gray goose-feather.
The dead are coming back again; the years are rolled away
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

Softly over Sherwood the south wind blows.
All the heart of England hid in every rose

Hears across the greenwood the sunny whisper leap,
Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?

Hark, the voice of England wakes him as of old
And, shattering the silence with a cry of brighter gold,
Bugles in the greenwood echo from the steep,
Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?

Where the deer are gliding down the shadowy glen
All across the glades of fern he calls his merry men-
Doublets of the Lincoln green glancing through the May
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day—

Calls them and they answer: from aisles of oak and ash
Rings the Follow! Follow! and the boughs begin to crash;
The ferns begin to flutter and the flowers begin to fly;
And through the crimson dawning the robber band goes by.

Robin! Robin! Robin! All his merry thieves
Answer as the bugle-note shivers through the leaves;
Calling as he used to call, faint and far away,

In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

- Alfred Noyes

PIRATES

Come to me, you with the laughing face, in the night as I lie Dreaming of days that are dead and of joys gone by;

Come to me, comrade, come through the slow-dropping rain, Come from your grave in the darkness and let us be pirates again.

Let us be boys together to-night, and pretend as of old
We are pirates at rest in a cave among huge heaps of gold,
Red Spanish doubloons and great pieces of eight, and
muskets and swords,

And a smoky red camp-fire to glint, you know how, on our ill-gotten hoards.

The old cave in the fir-wood that slopes down the hills to the sea

Still is haunted, perhaps, by young pirates as wicked as we: Though the fir with the magpie's big mud-plastered nest used to hide it so well,

And the boys in the gang had to swear that they never would tell.

Ah, that tree; I have sat in its boughs and looked seaward for hours.

I remember the creak of its branches, the scent of the flowers