Page 174 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

lieve that this is the merriest feast, the merriest wight, the
merriest place, and the merriest sight in all merry England.
Methought there was another here, but it must have been
this holy man talking to himself.’
So Robin lay watching the Friar, and the Friar, all un-
knowing that he was so overlooked, ate his meal placidly. At
last he was done, and, having first wiped his greasy hands
upon the ferns and wild thyme (and sweeter napkin ne’er
had king in all the world), he took up his flask and began
talking to himself as though he were another man, and an-
swering himself as though he were somebody else.
‘Dear lad, thou art the sweetest fellow in all the world, I
do love thee as a lover loveth his lass. La, thou dost make
me shamed to speak so to me in this solitary place, no one
being by, and yet if thou wilt have me say so, I do love thee
as thou lovest me. Nay then, wilt thou not take a drink of
good Malmsey? After thee, lad, after thee. Nay, I beseech
thee, sweeten the draught with thy lips (here he passed the
flask from his right hand to his left). An thou wilt force it on
me so, I must needs do thy bidding, yet with the more plea-
sure do I so as I drink thy very great health (here he took a
long, deep draught). And now, sweet lad, ‘tis thy turn next
(here he passed the bottle from his left hand back again to
his right). I take it, sweet chuck, and here’s wishing thee as
much good as thou wishest me.’ Saying this, he took anoth-
er draught, and truly he drank enough for two.
All this time merry Robin lay upon the bank and lis-
tened, while his stomach so quaked with laughter that he
was forced to press his palm across his mouth to keep it

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