Page 114 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

our good sovereign’s deer.’
‘I care not who thou art,’ answered the bold Tanner, ‘and
unless thou hast many more of thy kind by thee, thou canst
never make Arthur a Bland cry ‘A mercy.’ ‘
‘Is it so?’ cried Little John in a rage. ‘Now, by my faith,
thou saucy rogue, thy tongue hath led thee into a pit thou
wilt have a sorry time getting out of; for I will give thee such
a drubbing as ne’er hast thou had in all thy life before. Take
thy staff in thy hand, fellow, for I will not smite an unarmed
man.
‘Marry come up with a murrain!’ cried the Tanner, for he,
too, had talked himself into a fume. ‘Big words ne’er killed
so much as a mouse. Who art thou that talkest so freely of
cracking the head of Arthur a Bland? If I do not tan thy hide
this day as ne’er I tanned a calf’s hide in all my life before,
split my staff into skewers for lamb’s flesh and call me no
more brave man! Now look to thyself, fellow!’
‘Stay!’ said Little John. ‘Let us first measure our cudgels. I
do reckon my staff longer than thine, and I would not take
vantage of thee by even so much as an inch.’
‘Nay, I pass not for length,’ answered the Tanner. ‘My
staff is long enough to knock down a calf; so look to thyself,
fellow, I say again.’
So, without more ado, each gripped his staff in the
middle, and, with fell and angry looks, they came slowly
together.
Now news had been brought to Robin Hood how that
Little John, instead of doing his bidding, had passed by
duty for pleasure, and so had stopped overnight with merry

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