Page 191 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

and shaft and broadsword, Robin Hood stepped aside into
the covert, and there donned a gay, beribboned coat such as
might have been worn by some strolling minstrel, and slung
a harp across his shoulder, the better to carry out that part.
All the band stared and many laughed, for never had
they seen their master in such a fantastic guise before.
‘Truly,’ quoth Robin, holding up his arms and looking
down at himself, ‘I do think it be somewhat of a gay, gaudy,
grasshopper dress; but it is a pretty thing for all that, and
doth not ill befit the turn of my looks, albeit I wear it but
for the nonce. But stay, Little John, here are two bags that I
would have thee carry in thy pouch for the sake of safekeep-
ing. I can ill care for them myself beneath this motley.’
‘Why, master,’ quoth Little John, taking the bags and
weighing them in his hand, ‘here is the chink of gold.’
‘Well, what an there be,’ said Robin, ‘it is mine own coin
and the band is none the worse for what is there. Come, busk
ye, lads,’ and he turned quickly away. ‘Get ye ready straight-
way.’ Then gathering the score together in a close rank, in
the midst of which were Allan a Dale and Friar Tuck, he led
them forth upon their way from the forest shades.
So they walked on for a long time till they had come out
of Sherwood and to the vale of Rotherstream. Here were
different sights from what one saw in the forest; hedgerows,
broad fields of barley corn, pasture lands rolling upward till
they met the sky and all dotted over with flocks of white
sheep, hayfields whence came the odor of new-mown hay
that lay in smooth swathes over which skimmed the swifts
in rapid flight; such they saw, and different was it, I wot,

1 0 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood