US & Can. Versions: 122. Robin Hood & the Butcher
[There is one surviving version from North America collected by George Boswell in 1950. The ballad text and notes are below on this page. The informant Roake, originally from London, worked as a gardener at Austin Peay State College.
R. Matteson 2015]
CONTENTS:
1) Robin Hood and the Butcher- Roake (TN) 1950 Boswell
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From George Boswell Collection; Wolfe's notes follow.
A second Robin Hood ballad gathered from Herbert Roake was "Robin Hood and the Butcher," sung in Clarksville on December 19, 1950. In England their were dozens of Robin Hood ballads, but very few of them made it across the sea. One possible reason, according to the editors of the Frank C. Brown collection, was that "life in America has never home much resemblance to the social and economic conditions which produced the figures of Robin and his crew" (2:151). Child labels this number 127, but no parallel versions have been found in any of the major southern collections. As with Roake's "Robin Hood and Little John," no melody was offered.
Robin Hood and the Butcher- sung by Herbert Roake in Clarksville on December 19, 1950.
"So the butcher stepped up to Jolly Robin,
Acquainted with him for to be,
'Come butcher,' one said, "We be all of one trade;
Come, will you go dine with me?"'
"Hast thou any horned beasts," the Sheriff then said,
"Good fellow, to sell to me?"
"Yes, that I have, good master sheriff;
I have hundreds two or three.
'And a hundred acres of good, free land
If you please it for to see,
And I'll make you as good assurance of it
As ever my father did me."
"The Sheriff, he saddled his good palfrey,
And with 300 pounds in gold
Away he went with bold Robin Hood
His horned beasts to behold."
*** [text missing]
But when a little farther they came
Bold Robin, he chanced to spy
An hundred head of good fat deer
Come tripping the Sheriff full nigh.
*** [text missing]
"Then Robin put his horn to his mouth
And blew out blasts three.
Then quickly and anon there came Little John,
And all his company."
*** [text missing]
"Then Robin, he brought him through the wood
And set him on his dapple gray.
"Oh, have me commended to your wife at home."
So Robin went laughing away."