Page 185 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

flashed in the sun and then met with a clash that sounded
far and near. I wot this was no playful bout at quarterstaff,
but a grim and serious fight of real earnest. Thus they strove
for an hour or more, pausing every now and then to rest,
at which times each looked at the other with wonder, and
thought that never had he seen so stout a fellow; then once
again they would go at it more fiercely than ever. Yet in
all this time neither had harmed the other nor caused his
blood to flow. At last merry Robin cried, ‘Hold thy hand,
good friend!’ whereupon both lowered their swords.
‘Now I crave a boon ere we begin again,’ quoth Robin,
wiping the sweat from his brow; for they had striven so long
that he began to think that it would be an ill-done thing ei-
ther to be smitten himself or to smite so stout and brave a
fellow.
‘What wouldst thou have of me?’ asked the Friar.
‘Only this,’ quoth Robin; ‘that thou wilt let me blow
thrice upon my bugle horn.’
The Friar bent his brows and looked shrewdly at Robin
Hood. ‘Now I do verily think that thou hast some cunning
trick in this,’ quoth he. ‘Ne’ertheless, I fear thee not, and
will let thee have thy wish, providing thou wilt also let me
blow thrice upon this little whistle.’
‘With all my heart,’ quoth Robin, ‘so, here goes for one.’
So saying, he raised his silver horn to his lips and blew
thrice upon it, clear and high.
Meantime, the Friar stood watching keenly for what
might come to pass, holding in his fingers the while a pretty
silver whistle, such as knights use for calling their hawks

1 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood