Page 132 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

all night at the Blue Boar Inn, instead of venturing forth in
such stormy weather; dost thou not?’
‘A plague of thee and thy doings!’ cried Robin Hood. ‘If
thou wilt have it so, thou wert right to abide wherever thou
didst choose.’
‘Once more, it is well,’ quoth Little John. ‘As for myself, I
have been blind this day. I did not see thee drubbed; I did
not see thee tumbled heels over head in the dust; and if any
man says that thou wert, I can with a clear conscience rattle
his lying tongue betwixt his teeth.’
‘Come,’ cried Robin, biting his nether lip, while the oth-
ers could not forbear laughing. ‘We will go no farther today,
but will return to Sherwood, and thou shalt go to Ancaster
another time, Little John.’
So said Robin, for now that his bones were sore, he felt
as though a long journey would be an ill thing for him. So,
turning their backs, they retraced their steps whence they
came.

1 1