epic. Ballads representing its component parts are not
now extant; although on the other hand there are later ballads founded
on certain episodes in the _Gest_. The compiler availed himself of
incidents from other traditional sources, but he produced a singularly
original tale.

The word _gest_, now almost obsolete, is derived through Old French from
the Latin _gesta_, 'deeds' or 'exploits.' But as the word was
particularly applied to 'exploits as narrated or recited,' there came
into use a secondary meaning--that of 'a story or romantic tale in
verse,' or 'a metrical chronicle.' The latter meaning is doubtless
intended in the title of the _Gest of Robyn Hode_. A further corruption
may be noticed even in the titles of the later texts as given above;
Copland adds the word 'mery,' which thirty years later causes White to
print a 'Merry Jest.'

I have kept the original divisions of the story into eight 'fyttes,' but
it falls more naturally into three main sections, in each of which a
complete story is narrated. These may he distinguished thus:--

1. +Robin Hood and the Knight.+
(Fyttes First, Second, and Fourth.)

2. +Robin Hood, Little John, and the Sheriff of Nottingham.+
(Fyttes Third, Fifth, and Sixth.)

3. +Robin Hood and King Edward.+
(Fyttes Seventh and Eighth.)

An argument and general notes are prefixed to each fytte.

[Footnote 1: Mr. Charles Sayle puts it 'before 1519' in his
catalogue of the early printed books in the University Library.]

THE FIRST FYTTE (1-81)

+Argument.+--Robin Hood refuses to dine until he finds some guest to
provide money for his entertainment. He sends Little John and all his
men to bring in any earl, baron, abbot, or knight, to dine with him.
They find a knight, and feast him beneath the greenwood tree: but when
Robin demands payment, the knight turns out to be in sorry plight, for
he has sold all his goods to save his son. On the security of Our Lady,
Robin lends him four hundred pounds, and gives him a livery, a horse,
a palfrey, boots, spurs, etc., and Little John as squire.

Robin's unwillingness to dine until he has a guest appears to be a
parody of King Arthur's custom of refusing dinner until he has had an
adventure. (See Child, i. 257, note [++].) The offer of the Virgin as
security for a loan is apparently derived from a well-known miracle of
Mary, in which a Christian, wishing to borrow money of a Jew, takes him
to a church