othe,' sayde Robyn,
'On my bright bronde;
Shalt thou never awayte me scathe
By water ne by lande.

203.
'And if thou fynde any of my men,
By nyght or by day,
Upon thyn othe thou shalt swere
To helpe them that thou may.'

204.
Now hath the sherif sworne his othe,
And home he began to gone;
He was as full of grene-wode
As ever was hepe of stone.

[Annotations:
145.2: 'shete,' shoot.
145.3: 'fet,' fetched.
148.1: 'wight,' strong, active.
148.4: 'wonynge wane': both words mean dwelling or habitation.
153.4: To give him his full reward.
154.2: 'leutye,' loyalty.
155.4: 'foriete,' forgotten.
160.4: 'go' = walk.
161.3: 'lyveray,' purveyance.
168.2: 'Two myle way' = the time it takes to go two miles.
See _Early English Lyrics_, cxxvi. 55, and note.
168.4: 'mountnaunce,' duration.
172.2: 'nowmbles,' entrails: cf. 32.4.
175.3: 'Pecis,' cups; 'masars,' bowls.
177.2: Cf. _Child Waters_, 2.2 (First Series, p. 37).
183.2: See 177.2 and note.
183.3: 'shryef' may be a misprint, but 'shreeve' is another
spelling of 'sheriff.'
185.4: 'bydene,' together.
186.1: 'tyndes' = tynes, forks of the antlers.
186.4: 'slo,' slay.
194.3: 'toke,' gave.
198.2: 'ankir,' anchorite, hermit.
200.1: 'Or,' ere.
202.3: 'awayte me scathe,' lie in wait to do me harm.
204.4: _i.e._ as ever a hip (berry of the wild rose) is of its
stone.]

THE FOURTH FYTTE (205-280)

+Argument.+--Robin Hood will not dine until he has 'his pay,' and he
therefore sends Little John with Much and Scarlok to wait for an 'unketh
gest.' They capture a monk of St. Mary Abbey, and Robin Hood makes him
disgorge eight hundred pounds. The monk, we are told, was on his way to
London to take proceedings against the knight.

In due course the knight, who was left at the end of the second fytte at
the wrestling-match, arrives to pay his debt to Robin Hood; who,
however, refuses to receive it, saying that Our Lady had discharged the
loan already.

The admirable, naively-told episode of Our Lady's method of repaying
money lent on her security, is not without parallels, some of which
Child points out (III. 53-4).

THE FOURTH FYTTE

205.
The sherif dwelled in Notingham;
He was fayne he was agone;
And Robyn and his mery men
Went to wode anone.

206.
'Go we to dyner,' sayde Littell Johnn;