Page 129 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

now,’ quoth he, ‘what change is here? Verily, some eight or
ten years ago I left thee a stripling lad, with great joints and
ill-hung limbs, and lo! here thou art, as tight a fellow as e’er
I set mine eyes upon. Dost thou not remember, lad, how I
showed thee the proper way to nip the goose feather betwixt
thy fingers and throw out thy bow arm steadily? Thou gay-
est great promise of being a keen archer. And dost thou not
mind how I taught thee to fend and parry with the cudgel?’
‘Yea,’ said young Gamwell, ‘and I did so look up to thee,
and thought thee so above all other men that, I make my
vow, had I known who thou wert, I would never have dared
to lift hand against thee this day. I trust I did thee no great
harm.’
‘No, no,’ quoth Robin hastily, and looking sideways at
Little John, ‘thou didst not harm me. But say no more of
that, I prythee. Yet I will say, lad, that I hope I may nev-
er feel again such a blow as thou didst give me. By’r Lady,
my arm doth tingle yet from fingernail to elbow. Truly, I
thought that I was palsied for life. I tell thee, coz, that thou
art the strongest man that ever I laid mine eyes upon. I take
my vow, I felt my stomach quake when I beheld thee pluck
up yon green tree as thou didst. But tell me, how camest
thou to leave Sir Edward and thy mother?’
‘Alas!’ answered young Gamwell, ‘it is an ill story, un-
cle, that I have to tell thee. My father’s steward, who came
to us after old Giles Crookleg died, was ever a saucy varlet,
and I know not why my father kept him, saving that he did
oversee with great judgment. It used to gall me to hear him
speak up so boldly to my father, who, thou knowest, was

1 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood