Page 246 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

hath such appetite for plover’s eggs and lampreys as I for
juicy venison and sparkling ale? Gaffer Swanthold speaks
truly when he saith, ‘Better a crust with content than honey
with a sour heart.’ ‘
‘Yea,’ quoth Little John, as he rubbed his new-made bow-
string with yellow beeswax, ‘the life we lead is the life for
me. Thou speakest of the springtime, but methinks even the
winter hath its own joys. Thou and I, good master, have had
more than one merry day, this winter past, at the Blue Boar.
Dost thou not remember that night thou and Will Stutely
and Friar Tuck and I passed at that same hostelry with the
two beggars and the strolling friar?’
‘Yea,’ quoth merry Robin, laughing, ‘that was the night
that Will Stutely must needs snatch a kiss from the stout
hostess, and got a canakin of ale emptied over his head for
his pains.’
‘Truly, it was the same,’ said Little John, laughing also.
‘Methinks that was a goodly song that the strolling friar
sang. Friar Tuck, thou hast a quick ear for a tune, dost thou
not remember it?’
‘I did have the catch of it one time,’ said Tuck. ‘Let me see,’
and he touched his forefinger to his forehead in thought,
humming to himself, and stopping ever and anon to fit
what he had got to what he searched for in his mind. At last
he found it all and clearing his throat, sang merrily:

‘In the blossoming hedge the robin cock sings,
For the sun it is merry and bright,
And he joyfully hops and he flutters his wings,