DISCOVERY 



141 



Domesday Book was compiled. Now, of course, the 

 letter " h " is, and always has been, a very elusive 

 letter, and it is quite possible that Robin Hood and 

 Robin o' th' Wood are synonymous. That such a 

 change is possible is shown by the certified fact of such 

 an actual alteration taking place. In the early eigh- 

 teenth century a gipsy family named Wood went to live 

 in Wales, and to-day their descendants are called Hood. 

 Once we discover that " Hood " and " Wood " are 

 not entirely strangers to one another we remember 

 that there was once a heathen god called Woden, but 

 really the somewhat ponderous behaviour of Woden 

 does not seem to tally with the pranks played by Robin 

 Hood, and I would rather see in Robin o' th' Wood, 

 Robin Goodfellow, better known as Puck ; but this is 

 pure imagination, and has no firmer base than is here 

 indicated. 



Though the ballads firmly attach Robin Hood to 

 Sherwood Forest, yet there is evidence that perhaps his 

 original home must be sought farther north. In 

 Cumberland we find three ballad heroes, Adam Bel, 

 Clym of the Cloughe, and Wyllyam of Cloudesle, whose 

 exploits, though far fewer in number, are the exact 

 counterparts of those of Robin Hood, with the substitu- 

 tion of Carlisle for Nottingham and Inglewood for Sher- 

 wood.' One of the ballads makes three men contem- 

 poraries of Robin Hood's father, who, if we may credit 

 the ballad, was an even greater archer than his son : 



The father of Robin a forrester was, 



.\nd he shot in a lusty strong bow. 

 Two north country miles and an inch at a shot. 



As the Finder of Wakefield does know. 



For he brought .\dam Bell, and CUm of the Clough, 



And William of Clowdesle, 

 To shoot with our forrester for forty mark, 



And the forrester beat them all three. 



His mother was neece to the Coventry knight. 

 Which Warwickshire men call Sir Guy ; 



For he slew the blue bore that hangs at the gate. 

 Or mine host of the bull tells a lie. 



In the eacliest ballads that have come down to us we 

 find that Robin has, like William of Cloudesle, two 

 companions. Little John and Mutch, the miller's son. 

 These are the only ones mentioned by name, though 

 there were a considerable number of others in the band. 



Robyn take a full grete home, 



And loude he gan blowe ; 

 Seven score of wyght yonge men 



Came redy on a rowe. 



It is only in quite late ballads that any attempt was 

 made to identify Robin with an Earl of Huntingdon ; 

 in all the early ones he is simply a yeoman : 



' Also William of Cloudesle performs the apple-shooting feat of 

 William Tell. 



Roben Hood was the yeomans name. 



That was boyt cortcys and fre ; 

 For the loffe of owr ladey, 



.\11 wemen wcrschep he. 



Robin Hood's first meeting with Little John is the 

 subject of one of the later ballads : 



When Robin Hood was about twenty years old. 



He happen'd to meet Little John, 

 A jolly brisk blade, right fit for the trade. 



For he was a lusty young man. 



Tho' he was called Little, his limbs they were large, 



.\nd his stature was seven foot high, 

 Wherc-ever he came, they quak'd at his name, 



For soon he would make them to fly. 



Another of the band who plays but a small part is 

 mentioned as being with Robin at this time — Will 

 Stutely, but how he came to join the party is not related. 



But I can hear my reader asking why no reference 

 has yet been made to Friar Tuck and Maid Marian. 

 The reason is that neither of these well-known and 

 picturesque characters plays an important part, indeed 

 it is only in the later songs that they appear. Scholars 

 tell us that Maid Marian is imported into the Robin 

 Hood cycle from France, and certainly no mention of 

 her occurs before 1500. Friar Tuck, or the curtal friar 

 of Fountains Abbey, is the subject of a late ballad where, 

 like Little John and others, he gets the better of Robin 

 Hood and is accordingly made a member of the band. 



And coming unto Fountaine Dale, 



No farther would he ride ; 

 There he was aware of the curtal fryer 



Walking by the water side. 



The fryer had on a harnesse good. 



On his head a cap of steel, 

 Broad sword and buckler by his side, 



.\nd they became him weele. 



Friar Tuck is a curious ecclesiastic : a friar who is 

 a member of a Cistercian community and occupying a 

 distant cell of the mother house, and yet going about 

 armed to the teeth. He is certainly very untrue to 

 life, and seems to be a late creation of an inaccurate age. 



In the ballad of Robin Hood and Maid Marian we 

 find that, according to the true tradition of ballad- 

 mongers, Robin is the Earl of Huntingdon and Marian 

 is a " country lass." They fall in love, then part and, 

 like Shakespeare's Rosalind, Marian disguises herself : 



Perplexed and ve.xed. and troubled in mind. 



She drest herself like a page, 

 And ranged the wood, to find Robin Hood 



The bravest of men in that age. 



For some unstated reason Robin is also disguised. 

 They meet but do not recognise each other, and as 



