Page 282 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

voice.
‘Pity a poor beggar,’ quoth Robin. ‘Give me but a farthing
to buy me a piece of bread.’
‘Now, out upon thee!’ snarled the other. ‘Such sturdy
rogues as thou art are better safe in the prisons or dancing
upon nothing, with a hempen collar about the neck, than
strolling the highways so freely.’
‘Tut,’ quoth Robin, ‘how thou talkest! Thou and I are
brothers, man. Do we not both take from the poor people
that which they can ill spare? Do we not make our livings
by doing nought of any good? Do we not both live without
touching palm to honest work? Have we either of us ever
rubbed thumbs over honestly gained farthings? Go to! We
are brothers, I say; only thou art rich and I am poor; where-
fore, I prythee once more, give me a penny.’
‘Doss thou prate so to me, sirrah?’ cried the Corn En-
grosser in a rage. ‘Now I will have thee soundly whipped
if ever I catch thee in any town where the law can lay hold
of thee! As for giving thee a penny, I swear to thee that I
have not so much as a single groat in my purse. Were Robin
Hood himself to take me, he might search me from crown
to heel without finding the smallest piece of money upon
me. I trust I am too sly to travel so nigh to Sherwood with
money in my pouch, and that thief at large in the woods.’
Then merry Robin looked up and down, as if to see that
there was no one nigh, and then, coming close to the Corn
Engrosser, he stood on tiptoe and spake in his ear, ‘Thinkest
thou in sooth that I am a beggar, as I seem to be? Look upon
me. There is not a grain of dirt upon my hands or my face

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