skill of bombasting[11], or a pint for a penny.

If now thou wilt go hang thyself,
Then take thy apron strings;
It doth me good when such foul birds
Upon the gallows sings.
_Per me_ ROBIN GOOD-FELLOW.

At this the tapster swore Walsingham; but for all his swearing, the brewer
made him pay him his twenty pounds.

HOW KING OBREON[12] CALLED ROBIN GOOD-FELLOW TO DANCE

King Obreon, seeing Robin Good-fellow do so many honest and merry tricks,
called him one night out of his bed with these words, saying--

Robin, my son, come quickly, rise:
First stretch, then yawn, and rub your eyes;
For thou must go with me to-night,
To see, and taste of my delight.
Quickly come, my wanton son;
'Twere time our sports were now begun.

Robin, hearing this, rose and went to him. There were with King Obreon a
many fairies, all attired in green silk; all these, with King Obreon, did
welcome Robin Good-fellow into their company. Obreon took Robin by the hand
and led him a dance: their musician was little Tom Thumb; for he had an
excellent bag-pipe made of a wren's quill, and the skin of a Greenland
louse: this pipe was so shrill, and so sweet, that a Scottish pipe compared
to it, it would no more come near it, than a Jew's-trump doth to an Irish
harp. After they had danced, King Obreon spake to his son, Robin
Good-fellow, in this manner--

When e'er you hear my piper blow,
From thy bed see that thou go;
For nightly you must with us dance,
When we in circles round do prance.
I love thee, son, and by the hand
I carry thee to Fairy Land,
Where thou shalt see what no man knows:
Such love thee King Obreon owes.

So marched they in good manner (with their piper before) to the Fairy Land:
there did King Obreon show Robin Good-fellow many secrets, which he never
did open to the world.

HOW ROBIN GOOD-FELLOW WAS WONT TO WALK IN THE NIGHT

Robin Good-fellow would many times walk in the night with a broom on his
shoulder, and cry "chimney sweep," but when any one did call him, then
would he run away laughing _ho, ho, hoh!_ Sometimes he would counterfeit a
beggar, begging very pitifully, but when they came to give him an alms, he
would run away, laughing as his manner was. Sometimes would he knock at
men's doors, and when the servants came, he would blow out the candle, if
they were men; but if they were women, he would not only put out their
light, but kiss the