William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
Robin Hoods Death and BurialAnonymous
W
Down a down, a down, a down,
Went o’er yon bank of broom,
Said Robin Hood bold to Little John,
‘We have shot for many a pound:’
Hey down, a down, a down.
My broad arrows will not flee;
But I have a cousin lives down below,
Please God, she will bleed me.’
As fast as he can win;
But before he came there, as we do hear,
He was taken very ill.
He knocked all at the ring,
But none was so ready as his cousin herself
For to let bold Robin in.
‘And drink some beer with me?’
‘No, I will neither eat nor drink,
Till I am blooded by thee.’
‘Which you did never see,
And if you please to walk therein,
You blooded by me shall be.’
And led him to a private room,
And there she blooded bold Robin Hood,
While one drop of blood would run down.
And locked him up in the room;
Then did he bleed all the live-long day,
Until the next day at noon.
Thinking for to get down;
But he was so weak he could not leap,
He could not get him down.
Which hung low down to his knee;
He set his horn unto his mouth,
And blew out weak blasts three.
As he sat under a tree,
‘I fear my master is now near dead,
He blows so wearily.’
As fast as he can dree;
But when he came to Kirkly-hall,
He broke locks two or three:
Then he fell on his knee:
‘A boon, a boon,’ cries Little John,
‘Master, I beg of thee.’
‘Little John, thou begs of me?’
‘It is to burn fair Kirkly-hall,
And all their nunnery.’
‘That boon I’ll not grant thee;
I never hurt woman in all my life,
Nor men in woman’s company.
Nor at mine end shall it be;
But give me my bent bow in my hand,
And a broad arrow I’ll let flee;
And where this arrow is taken up,
There shall my grave digg’d be.
And another at my feet;
And lay my bent bow by my side,
Which was my music sweet;
And make my grave of gravel and green,
Which is most right and meet.
With under my head a green sod;
That they may say, when I am dead,
Here lies bold Robin Hood.’
Which did bold Robin please;
And there they buried bold Robin Hood,
Within the fair Kirkleys.