sk
of Malmsey, he held it toward the two fellows lying on the grass, and
quoth he, "Sweet friends, I drink your health and thank you dearly for
what ye have so kindly given me this day, and so I wish you good den."
Then, taking up his staff, he left the spot and went merrily on his way.

But when the two stout beggars that had been rapped upon the head roused
themselves and sat up, and when the others had gotten over their fright
and come back, they were as sad and woebegone as four frogs in dry
weather, for two of them had cracked crowns, their Malmsey was all gone,
and they had not so much as a farthing to cross their palms withal.

But after Robin left the little dell he strode along merrily, singing as
he went; and so blithe was he and such a stout beggar, and, withal, so
fresh and clean, that every merry lass he met had a sweet word for him
and felt no fear, while the very dogs, that most times hate the sight
of a beggar, snuffed at his legs in friendly wise and wagged their tails
pleasantly; for dogs know an honest man by his smell, and an honest man
Robin was--in his own way.

Thus he went along till at last he had come to the wayside cross nigh
Ollerton, and, being somewhat tired, he sat him down to rest upon the
grassy bank in front of it. "It groweth nigh time," quoth he to himself,
"that I were getting back again to Sherwood; yet it would please me well
to have one more merry adventure ere I go back again to my jolly band."

So he looked up the road and down the road to see who might come, until
at last he saw someone drawing near, riding upon a horse. When the
traveler came nigh enough for him to see him well, Robin laughed, for a
strange enough figure he cut. He was a thin, wizened man, and, to look
upon him, you could not tell whether he was thirty years old or sixty,
so dried up was he even to skin and bone. As for the nag, it was as thin
as the rider, and both looked as though they had been baked in Mother
Huddle's Oven, where folk are dried up so that they live forever.

But although Robin laughed at the droll sight, he knew the wayfarer
to be a certain rich corn engrosser of Worksop, who more than once had
bought all the grain in the countryside and held it till it reached even
famine prices, thus making much money from the needs of poor people, and
for this he was hated far and near by everyone that knew aught of him.

So, after a while, the Corn Engrosser came riding up to where Robin sat;
where