Page 143 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

With a hey nonny nonny;
The sweet love season of the year,
With a ninny ninny nonny;
Now lad and lass
Lie in the grass
That groweth green
With flowers between.
The buck doth rest
The leaves do start,
The cock doth crow,
The breeze doth blow,
And all things laugh in—‘

‘Who may yon fellow be coming along the road?’ said
Robin, breaking into the song.
‘I know not,’ quoth Little John in a surly voice. ‘But this
I do know, that it is an ill thing to do to check the flow of a
good song.’
‘Nay, Little John,’ said Robin, ‘be not vexed, I prythee;
but I have been watching him coming along, bent beneath
that great bag over his shoulder, ever since thou didst begin
thy song. Look, Little John, I pray, and see if thou knowest
him.’
Little John looked whither Robin Hood pointed. ‘Truly,’
quoth he, after a time, ‘I think yon fellow is a certain young
miller I have seen now and then around the edge of Sher-
wood; a poor wight, methinks, to spoil a good song about.’
‘Now thou speakest of him,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘me-
thinks I myself have seen him now and then. Hath he not a

1 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood