“’Why growest
thou so cold, my daughter?
Why growest thou so
cold and white,
Daughter, my daughter?’
Oh, never a word the
daughter said,
But she sat all straight
with a drooping head,
For her heart was stilled
and her face was dead:
And the shrill wind
sighed a straining_.”
All listened in silence; and when Allan a Dale had
done King Richard heaved a sigh. “By the
breath of my body, Allan,” quoth he, “thou
hast such a wondrous sweet voice that it strangely
moves my heart. But what doleful ditty is this
for the lips of a stout yeoman? I would rather
hear thee sing a song of love and battle than a sad
thing like that. Moreover, I understand it not;
what meanest thou by the words?”
“I know not, Your Majesty,” said Allan,
shaking his head, “for ofttimes I sing that
which I do not clearly understand mine own self.”
“Well, well,” quoth the King, “let
it pass; only I tell thee this, Allan, thou shouldst
turn thy songs to such matters as I spoke of, to wit,
love or war; for in sooth thou hast a sweeter voice
than Blondell, and methought he was the best minstrel
that ever I heard.”
But now one came forward and said that the feast was
ready; so Robin Hood brought King Richard and those
with him to where it lay all spread out on fair white
linen cloths which lay upon the soft green grass.
Then King Richard sat him down and feasted and drank,
and when he was done he swore roundly that he had
never sat at such a lusty repast in all his life before.
That night he lay in Sherwood Forest upon a bed of
sweet green leaves, and early the next morning he
set forth from the woodlands for Nottingham Town,
Robin Hood and all of his band going with him.
You may guess what a stir there was in the good town
when all these famous outlaws came marching into the
streets. As for the Sheriff, he knew not what
to say nor where to look when he saw Robin Hood in
such high favor with the King, while all his heart
was filled with gall because of the vexation that
lay upon him.
The next day the King took leave of Nottingham Town;
so Robin Hood and Little John and Will Scarlet and
Allan a Dale shook hands with all the rest of the
band, kissing the cheeks of each man, and swearing
that they would often come to Sherwood and see them.
Then each mounted his horse and rode away in the train
of the King.
THUS END the Merry Adventures of Robin Hood; for,
in spite of his promise, it was many a year ere he
saw Sherwood again.
After a year or two at court Little John came back
to Nottinghamshire, where he lived in an orderly way,
though within sight of Sherwood, and where he achieved
great fame as the champion of all England with the
quarterstaff. Will Scarlet after a time came back
to his own home, whence he had been driven by his
unlucky killing of his father’s steward.
The rest of the band did their duty as royal rangers
right well. But Robin Hood and Allan a Dale did
not come again to Sherwood so quickly, for thus it
was:
