Page 274 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

So he turned and left Robin and, crossing the stile, was
gone, but Robin heard him singing from beyond the hedge
as he strode away:

‘For Polly is smiling and Molly is glad
When the beggar comes in at the door,
And Jack and Dick call him a fine lusty lad,
And the hostess runs up a great score.

Then hey, Willy Waddykin,
Stay, Billy Waddykin,
And let the brown ale flow free, flow free,
The beggar’s the man for me.’

Robin listened till the song ended in the distance, then
he also crossed the stile into the road, but turned his toes
away from where the Beggar had gone. The road led up a
gentle hill and up the hill Robin walked, a half score or
more of bags dangling about his legs. Onward he strolled
for a long time, but other adventure he found not. The road
was bare of all else but himself, as he went kicking up little
clouds of dust at each footstep; for it was noontide, the most
peaceful time of all the day, next to twilight. All the earth
was silent in the restfulness of eating time; the plowhorses
stood in the furrow munching, with great bags over their
noses holding sweet food, the plowman sat under the hedge
and the plowboy also, and they, too, were munching, each
one holding a great piece of bread in one fist and a great
piece of cheese in the other.