nd loosed John hand and foot,
And gave him Sir Guy's bow in his hand,
And bade it be his boot.

56.
But John took Guy's bow in his hand
(His arrows were rawsty by the root);
The sheriff saw Little John draw a bow
And fettle him to shoot.

57.
Towards his house in Nottingham
He fled full fast away,
And so did all his company,
Not one behind did stay.

58.
But he could neither so fast go,
Nor away so fast run,
But Little John, with an arrow broad,
Did cleave his heart in twain.

[Annotations:
1.1: 'shaws,' woods: 'sheen,' beautiful: 'shradds,' copses.
2.1: 'woodweel,' a small warbler. Percy, Ritson, Hazlitt,
Halliwell, Child, Murray, Hales, and Furnivall, have variously
identified it with the woodpecker, woodlark, redbreast,
greenfinch, nuthatch, and 'golden ouzle.'
2.2: 'lyne,' tree.
3.4: 'wroken,' avenged.
4.1: 'swevens,' dreams.
5.1: 'Busk ye, bown ye' = get ready.
7.3: 'capul-hide,' horse-skin.
10.2: 'And' = if. So in next line.
12.4: 'slade,' valley, ravine.
15.2: 'fettled,' prepared.
16.3,4: 'bale, boot,' trouble, help.
20.1: 'quoth the sheriff' is added in the MS.
22.2: See 2.2 and 33.2, where it is obviously a commonplace.
24.1,2: Sir Guy means he has lost his way, and does not know the
time of day.
26.1: 'whether' = which of the two. Robin, of course, is speaking.
27.1: 'masteries,' feats of skill.
27.4: 'unset Steven,' unfixed time: _i.e._ by chance.
28.1: 'shroggy,' wands, sticks.
28.4: 'pricks,' marks for shooting at.
31.2,4: The 'garland' was simply a circular wreath, hung upon the
'prick-wand,' or upright stick.
35.2: 'set by' = care for.
36.4: 'brown': see _Glossary of Ballad Commonplaces_, First Series,
p. xlix.
38.1: 'reckless on,' heedless of.
40.3: 'awkward,' unexpected: another ballad-commonplace.
42.3: 'That' = so that.
45.4: We are not told how Robin knew what his men were doing.
46.4: 'low,' hill.
52.2: 'steven,' voice.
53.2: 'belive,' forthwith.
56.2: 'rawsty by the root.' It is suggested that this means rusty
(_i.e._ with blood) at the root (tip, end).]

ROBIN HOOD'S DEATH

+The Text+ is modernised from the Percy Folio MS. (c. 1650). At two
points, after 8.3 and 18.2, half a page of the MS., or about nine
stanzas, is missing--torn out and 'used by ma