Seeing thy asking hath beene soe badd,
Well granted it shall be."

52. But Litle John heard his master speake,
Well he knew that was his steven[40];
"Now shall I be loset," quoth Litle John,
"With Christ's might in heaven."

53. But Robin hee hyed him towards Litle John,
Hee thought hee wold loose him belive;
The sheriffe and all his companye
Fast after him did drive.

54. "Stand abacke! stand abacke!" sayd Robin;
"Why draw you mee soe neere?
It was never the use in our countrye
One's shrift another should heere."

55. But Robin pulled forth an Irysh kniffe,
And losed John hand and foote,
And gave him Sir Guye's bow in his hand,
And bade it be his boote.

56. But John tooke Guye's bow in his hand
(His arrowes were rawstye[41] by the roote);
The sherriffe saw Litle John draw a bow
And fettle him to shoote.

57. Towards his house in Nottingham
He fled full fast away,
And so did all his companye,
Not one behind did stay.

58. But he cold neither soe fast goe,
Nor away soe fast runn,
But Litle John, with an arrow broade,
Did cleave his heart in twinn.

[Footnote 8: This ballad is a good specimen of the Robin Hood
Cycle, and is remarkable for its many proverbial and
alliterative phrases. A few lines have been lost between
stanzas 2 and 3. Gisborne is a "market-town in the West
Riding of the County of York, on the borders of Lancashire."
For the probable tune of the ballad, see Chappell's 'Popular
Music of the Olden Time,' ii. 397.]

[Footnote 9: Woods, groves.--This touch of description at the
outset is common in our old ballads, as well as in the
mediaeval German popular lyric, and may perhaps spring from
the old "summer-lays" and chorus of pagan times.]

[Footnote 10: Beautiful; German, _schoen_.]

[Footnote 11: Coppices or openings in a wood.]

[Footnote 12: In some glossaries the woodpecker, but here of
course a song-bird,--perhaps, as Chappell suggests, the
woodlark.]

[Footnote 13: _A_, on; _lyne_, lime or linden.]

[Footnote 14: Sturdy, brave.]

[Footnote 15: Robin now tells of a dream in which "they"
(=the two "wight yeomen,"