English & Other 115. Robyn and Gandeleyn
CONTENTS:
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ROBYN AND GANDELYN
Robyn and Gandelyn
Edited by Stephen Knight and Thomas H. Ohlgren
Originally Published in Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales
Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997
Robynn lyth in grene wode bowndyn. bound (in a shroud); (see note)
I herde a carpyng of a clerk, singing; learned person
Al at yone wodes ende, yonder
Of gode Robyn and Gandeleyn; (see note)
Was ther non other gynge. company; (see note)
Stronge thevys wer tho chylderin non, those youths
But bowmen gode and hende; skillful; honorable
He wentyn to wode to getyn hem fleych, They; flesh (meat)
If God wold it hem sende.
Al day wentyn tho chylderin too, two
And fleych fowndyn he non, meat they found none
Til it were ageyn evyn; toward evening
The chylderin wolde gon hom. (see note)
Half an honderid of fat falyf der
He comyn ayon,
And alle he wern fayr and fat inow,
But markyd was ther non;
"Be dere God," seyde gode Robyn,
"Here of we shul have on."
Robyn bent his joly bowe,
Ther in he set a flo;
The fattest der of alle
The herte he clef a to.
He hadde not the der iflawe,
Ne half out of the hyde,
There cam a schrewde arwe out of the west,
That felde Robertes pryde.
Gandeleyn lokyd hym est and west,
Be every syde:
"Hoo hat myn mayster slayin?
Ho hat don this dede?
Shal I never out of grene wode go
Til I se sydis blede."
Gandeleyn lokyd hym est and lokyd west,
And sowt under the sunne;
He saw a lytil boy
He clepyn Wrennok of Donne.
A good bowe in his hond,
A brod arwe ther ine,
And fowre and twenty goode arwys,
Trusyd in a thrumme:
"Be war the, war the, Gandeleyn,
Her of thu shalt han summe.
"Be war the, war the, Gandeleyn,
Hir of thu gyst plenté."
"Ever on for an other," seyde Gandeleyn;
"Mysaunter have he shal fle.
"Wher-at shal oure marke be?"
Seyde Gandeleyn.
"Everyche at otheris herte,"
Seyde Wrennok ageyn.
"Ho shal yeve the ferste schote?"
Seyde Gandeleyn:
"And I shul geve the on be-forn."
Seyd Wrennok ageyn.
Wrennok schette a ful good schote,
And he schet not to hye;
Throw the samclothis of his bryk,
It towchyd neyther thye.
"Now hast thou govyn me on beforn,"
Al thus to Wrennok seyde he,
"And throw the myght of our Lady
A bettere I shal yeve the."
Gandeleyn bent his goode bowe,
And set ther in a flo;
He schet throw his grene certyl,
His herte he clef on too.
"Now shalt thu never yelpe, Wrennok,
At ale ne at wyn,
That thu hast slawe goode Robyn,
And his knave Gandeleyn.
"Now shalt thu never yelpe, Wrennok,
At wyn ne at ale,
That thu hast slawe goode Robyn,
And Gandeleyn his knawe."
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fallow deer
They came upon
enough
blemished
(see note)
shall have one
(see note)
arrow
cleaved in two
flayed
devilish arrow
struck down; (see note)
Who has
(see note)
gazed
stared
They call
twenty four
Tied; bundle
will get plenty; (see note)
Misfortune may he have who flees
Where
Each at the other's heart
Who
the first one; (see note)
(see note)
shot
apron; breeches; (see note)
thigh
given me one first
(see note)
A better [shot] I shall give thee
arrow
He shot through his green kirtle
cleft in two
boast
slain
servant
(see note)
servant; (see note)
ROBYN AND GANDELYN: NOTES
1 This refrain line apparently refers to Robin's burial in a shroud as a result of the action of this poem; an analogue is the refrain of Adam lay ybounden. The line is usually printed as line 5, but actually begins the text in the MS.
Robyn lyth was read by Ritson (1790, p. 48) as the name of one of the characters, and made the title of the poem, but it is clearly a subject and verb.
4 Gandeleyn. The name is close to Gamelyn (Skeat feels it is descended from it, 1884, p. ix). Gutch remarked that Gandalin is a name found in the Old Spanish romance Amadis de Gaul (1847, II, 36)
5 MS: gynge. Child emends to thynge, presumably on grounds of sense, but as Dobson and Taylor suggest (1976, p. 256), gynge meaning "gang" or "company" makes sharper sense.
13 MS: wolde. The final e is almost completely lost by the clippping of the page.
18 Robyn has probably been clipped from the edge of the MS: it seems necessary and is supplied.
20 MS: went. Child emends to bent, the verb regularly used in this collocation.
27 Robertes. I.e., Robin's. The balladeer uses the outlaw's more formal name when speaking of his pride.
33 Til. MS: ti.
Child inserts his before sydis, but this seems unnecessary and is not accepted by Dobson and Taylor (1976, p. 256).
45 MS: Hir. Child emends to Her, but this is unnecessary.
54 MS ewe is corrected to eue by the scribe, and so Child's emendation to this is not necessary.
55 MS: seyd. Child adds a final e, presumably for meter, but this is unnecessary and is omitted by Dobson and Taylor (1976, p. 257).
58 Child and Dobson and Taylor read the MS as sanchothis but the first h is overwritten to make it more like an l. The reading sanclothis should be emended to samclothis, a "semigarment" formed by the loose cloth hanging down from a pair of breeches between the legs; the MED refers to this instance of the word.
62 MS: thu. Child emends to the.
74 MS: sw is crossed out before slawe.
75 Gandeleyn. MS: Gandelyyn.
MS: knawe. Child emends to knave which seems sensible, but does damage the rhyme. An unaffricated bilabial, as is possible in knawe, would give a better rhyme with ale in line 73.