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it. So we will take our bows and shafts and go there to shoot,
for I know right well that merriment will be a-going. What
say ye, lads?’
Then young David of Doncaster spoke up and said, ‘Now
listen, I pray thee, good master, unto what I say. I have come
straight from our friend Eadom o’ the Blue Boar, and there I
heard the full news of this same match. But, master, I know
from him, and he got it from the Sheriff’s man Ralph o’ the
Scar, that this same knavish Sheriff hath but laid a trap for
thee in this shooting match and wishes nothing so much as
to see thee there. So go not, good master, for I know right
well he doth seek to beguile thee, but stay within the green-
wood lest we all meet dole and woe.’
‘Now,’ quoth Robin, ‘thou art a wise lad and keepest
thine ears open and thy mouth shut, as becometh a wise
and crafty woodsman. But shall we let it be said that the
Sheriff of Nottingham did cow bold Robin Hood and seven-
score as fair archers as are in all merry England? Nay, good
David, what thou tellest me maketh me to desire the prize
even more than I else should do. But what sayeth our good
gossip Swanthold? Is it not ‘A hasty man burneth his mouth,
and the fool that keepeth his eyes shut falleth into the pit’?
Thus he says, truly, therefore we must meet guile with guile.
Now some of you clothe yourselves as curtal friars, and
some as rustic peasants, and some as tinkers, or as beggars,
but see that each man taketh a good bow or broadsword, in
case need should arise. As for myself, I will shoot for this
same golden arrow, and should I win it, we will hang it to
the branches of our good greenwood tree for the joy of all

0 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood