ed the King in the disguise of the abbot, he craved forgiveness
for himself and his band, which was granted upon condition that he should
accompany his sovereign to Court and take a place in the royal household.
The old collection of ballads, "The Lytell Geste of Robyn Hood," tells
the same story and continues it, relating how after "dwelling in the
Kynge's courte" a year, he tired of it and obtained permission to make a
visit to the woods again, but forfeited his word and never returned,
dying at last in Kirklees priory, through the treachery of the abbess,
and how in his last moments he blew a loud blast on his horn, summoning
Little John from the forest, to whom, after he had forced his way into
his chamber, the dying Robin said:

"Give me my bent bow in my hand,
And an arrow I'll let free,
And where that arrow is taken up,
There let my grave digged be."

The cantata opens with a chorus of the outlaws, who vigorously assert
their independence of tribute, laws, and monarchs, followed by a
bombastic bass aria by the Bishop, who threatens them for destroying the
King's deer. His grandiloquence is speedily interrupted by the outlaws,
with Robin at their head, who surround him without further ado and make
him the butt of their sport. Robin Hood sings a charmingly melodious
ballad, "Under the Greenwood Tree," in which the Bishop is invited to
become one of their number and share their sylvan enjoyments. A trio and
chorus follow, in the course of which the Bishop parts with his personal
possessions in favor of the gentlemen around him in Lincoln green with
"bent bows." A chorus ("Strike the Harp") also informs us that the
ecclesiastic is forced to dance for the genial band much against his will
as well as his dignity. Robin's sentimentalizing about the pleasures
under the greenwood tree is still further emphasized by a madrigal for
female voices, supposed to be sung by the forest maidens, though their
identity is not very clear, as Marian was the only maid that accompanied
the band. After the plundering scene, the cantata grows more passionate
in character, describing a pretty and tender love-scene between Robin and
Marian, which is somewhat incongruous, whether Marian be considered as
the outlaw's mistress, or, as some of the old chroniclers have it, his
wife Matilda, who changed her name when she followed him into the forest.
From the musical standpoint, however, it affords an opportunity for
another gracefu