US & Canada Versions: 121. Robin Hood & the Potter
[There is one known US version of this ballad which is not recognized by Coffin and others because it was collected by Niles. According to Niles, he collected a version of this ballad from Mattie Cobb in 1934 in Madison Co., KY.]
CONTENTS:
1) The Potter and Robin Hood- Cobb (KY) 1934 Niles
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The Potter and Robin Hood - sung by Mattie Cobb, 1934 Madison County, KY.
1. There was a potter bold,
Who came one springtime day,
And said to our strong Robin Hood:
"No tribute will I pay."
2. And they did fight with stem and stick,
And Rob was thrown to the ground,
And there the potter, tongue in hand,
Did beat our Robin sound.[1]
3. So Robin took the potter's pots
And set a little stall,
Beside the sheriff's jailhouse,
And sold the pots full all.
4. Next morn they left the sheriff's wife
And thanked her full merry.
The sheriff's heart was very light
The greenwood for to see.
5. "Here's for your wife a horse of white
And for her, too, a ring."
And they would kill him very sure
But she did many kind thing.
6. "How fared you in the forest green,
And brought you Robbie home?"
"He is the very devil's skin"
Said the sheriff with a moan.
7. "And we shall pay you for your pots
And with our gold make free.
And when you to the greenwood come,
Welcome, my potter, to me."
1. At this point, Potsie Cobb explained that the "tongue" was the tongue of a two-horse wagon. If this were so it was indeed a formidable weapon about 7 feet long and perhaps 2 inches by 4 inches and made of hickory.