Page 83 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

‘It is much against my will,’ said Robin Hood, ‘ne’ertheless,
if thou dost wish it, get thee gone, but bear thyself seeming-
ly, Little John, for thou art mine own right-hand man and I
could ill bear to have harm befall thee.’
So Little John clad himself all in scarlet and started off to
the Fair at Nottingham Town.
Right merry were these Fair days at Nottingham, when
the green before the great town gate was dotted with booths
standing in rows, with tents of many-colored canvas, hung
about with streamers and garlands of flowers, and the folk
came from all the countryside, both gentle and common.
In some booths there was dancing to merry music, in oth-
ers flowed ale and beer, and in others yet again sweet cakes
and barley sugar were sold; and sport was going outside the
booths also, where some minstrel sang ballads of the olden
time, playing a second upon the harp, or where the wres-
tlers struggled with one another within the sawdust ring,
but the people gathered most of all around a raised platform
where stout fellows played at quarterstaff.
So Little John came to the Fair. All scarlet were his hose
and jerkin, and scarlet was his cowled cap, with a scarlet
feather stuck in the side of it. Over his shoulders was slung a
stout bow of yew, and across his back hung a quiver of good
round arrows. Many turned to look after such a stout, tall
fellow, for his shoulders were broader by a palm’s-breadth
than any that were there, and he stood a head taller than
all the other men. The lasses, also, looked at him askance,
thinking they had never seen a lustier youth.
First of all he went to the booth where stout ale was sold

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood