I fayne see;
And if I may him take,
I-quyt then shall he be.'

344.
And when they came to Notingham,
They walked in the strete;
And with the proude sherif i-wys
Sone can they mete.

345.
'Abyde, thou proude sherif,' he sayde,
'Abyde, and speke with me;
Of some tidinges of oure kinge
I wolde fayne here of thee.

346.
'This seven yere, by dere worthy God,
Ne yede I this fast on fote;
I make myn avowe to God, thou proude sherif,
It is not for thy gode.'

347.
Robyn bent a full goode bowe,
An arrowe he drowe at wyll;
He hit so the proude sherife
Upon the grounde he lay full still.

348.
And or he myght up aryse,
On his fete to stonde,
He smote of the sherifs hede
With his brighte bronde.

349.
'Lye thou there, thou proude sherife;
Evyll mote thou cheve!
There myght no man to thee truste
The whyles thou were a lyve.'

350.
His men drewe out theyr bryght swerdes,
That were so sharpe and kene,
And layde on the sheryves men,
And dryved them downe bydene.

351.
Robyn stert to that knyght,
And cut a two his bonde,
And toke hym in his hand a bowe,
And bad hym by hym stonde.

352.
'Leve thy hors thee behynde,
And lerne for to renne;
Thou shalt with me to grene wode,
Through myre, mosse, and fenne.

353.
'Thou shalt with me to grene wode,
Without ony leasynge,
Tyll that I have gete us grace
Of Edwarde, our comly kynge.'

[Annotations:
320.2: 'dyght,' concerted.
322.3: 'yede,' went.
326.3: 'ordeyn,' levy, summon.
328.: See st. 302.
329.4: 'tene,' anger. 'Thereof' means 'of Robin's escape.'
333.3: 'lever,' rather.
334.1: 'harde,' = heard.
336.4: 'bone,' boon.
338.4, 339.1: supplied from later versions.
340.2: 'wode,' mad.
346.2: 'this' = thus.
348.1: 'And or' = ere.
349.2: 'cheve,' gain, win.
350.4: 'bydene,' one after another.
351.3: 'toke,' gave.]

THE SEVENTH FYTTE (354-417)

+Argument.+--The king, coming with a great array to Nottingham to take
Robin Hood and the knight, and finding nothing but a great scarcity of
deer, is wondrous wroth, and promises the knight's lands to any one who
will bring him his head. For half a year the king has no news of Robin;
at length, at the suggestion of a forester, he disguises himself as an
abbot and five of his men as monks, and goes i