210 ROBIN HOOD'S DEATH AND BURIAL. ROBIN HOOD's death and BURIAL. When Robin Hood and Little John Went o'er yon bank of broom, Said Robin Hood to Little John, "We have shot for many a pound; "But I am not able to shoot one shot more, My arrows will not flee; But I have a cousin lives down below, Please God, she will bleed me.” Now Robin is to fair Kirkley gone, As fast as he can win; But before he came there, as we do hear, And when that he came to fair Kirkley Hall, He knocked all at the ring, But none was so ready as his cousin herself "Will you please to sit down, cousin Robin," she said, "And drink some beer with me?". "No, I will neither eat nor drink Till I am blooded by thee." "Well, I have a room, cousin Robin," she said, "Which you did never see, And if you please to walk therein, You blooded by me shall be." She took him by the lily-white hand, She blooded him in the vein of the arm, He then bethought him of a casement door, He was so weak he could not leap, He then bethought him of his bugle-horn, He set his horn unto his mouth, And blew out weak blasts three. Then Little John, when hearing him, "I fear my master is near dead, 212 ROBIN HOOD'S DEATH AND BURIAL. Then Little John to fair Kirkley is gone, But when he came to Kirkley Hall, "What is that boon," quoth Robin Hood, "Little John, thou begs of me?". "It is, to burn fair Kirkley Hall, And all their nunnerie." "Now nay, now nay," quoth Robin Hood, “That boon I'll not grant thee; I never hurt woman in all my life, 66 Nor man in woman's companie. "I never hurt fair maid in all my time, But give me my bent bow in my hand, "And where this arrow is taken up, "And lay my bent bow by my side, And make my grave of gravel and green, "Let me have length and breadth enough, These words they readily promised him, And there they buried bold Robin Hood, OLD BALLAD. 214 WHAT THE WINDS BRING. WHAT THE WINDS BRING. "Which is the wind that brings the cold?”. "Which is the wind that brings the heat?" When the South begins to blow." "Which is the wind that brings the rain? "The East-wind, Arty; and farmers know "Which is the wind that brings the flowers?" When the West begins to blow." STEDMAN. |