"Yesterday I should have married a maid,
But she was from me ta'en,

And chosen to be an old knight's delight,
Whereby my poor heart is slain.”

"What is thy name?" then said Robin Hood,

"Come tell me, without any fail."

"By the faith of my body," then said the young man, "My name it is Allen-a-Dale."

"What wilt thou give me," said Robin Hood,

"In ready gold or fee,

To help thee to thy true-love again,

And deliver her unto thee?"

"I have no money," then quoth the young man,

"No ready gold nor fee,

But I will swear upon a book

Thy true servant for to be."

"How many miles is it to thy true-love?

Come tell me without guile."

"By the faith of my body," then said the young man,

"It is but five little mile."

Then Robin he hasted over the plain;

He did neither stint nor ling,

Until he came unto the church

Where Allen should keep his wedding.

"What dost thou here?" the bishop he said; "I prithee now tell unto me."

"I am a bold harper," quoth Robin Hood, "And the best in the north country."

"Oh welcome, oh welcome," the bishop he said; "That music best pleaseth me."

"You shall have no music," quoth Robin Hood, "Till the bride and the bridegroom I see."

With that came in a wealthy knight,

Which was both grave and old; And after him a finikin lass,

Did shine like glistering gold.

"This is no fit match," quoth Robin Hood,
"That you do seem to make here;

For since we are come unto the church,
The bride shall choose her own dear."

Then Robin Hood put his horn to his mouth,
And blew blasts two or three;
When four-and-twenty yeomen bold.
Came leaping over the lea.

And when they came into the church-yard,

Marching all in a row,

The first man was Allen-a-Dale,

To give bold Robin his bow.

"This is thy true love," Robin he said,

"Young Allen, as I hear say:

And you shall be married at this same time,
Before we depart away."

"That shall not be," the bishop he cried, "For thy word it shall not stand;

They shall be three times asked in the church, As the law is of our land."

Robin Hood pulled off the bishop's coat,

And put it upon Little John;

"By the faith of my body," then Robin said, "This cloth doth make thee a man."

When Little John went into the choir,
The people began to laugh;

He asked them seven times in the church,
Lest three times should not be enough.

"Who gives me this maid?" then said Little John. Quoth Robin Hood, "That do I;

And he that takes her from Allen-a-Dale,
Full dearly he shall her buy."

And then having ended this merry wedding,
The bride looked as fresh as a queen;

And so they returned to the merry greenwood,
Amongst the leaves so green.

GOD'S JUDGMENT ON A WICKED BISHOP

The summer and autumn had been so wet,
That in winter the corn was growing yet;
'Twas a piteous sight to see, all around,
The grain lie rotting on the ground.

Every day the starving poor
Crowded around Bishop Hatto's door;
For he had a plentiful last-year's store,
And all the neighborhood could tell
His granaries were furnished well.

At last Bishop Hatto appointed a day
To quiet the poor without delay;

He bade them to his great barn repair,

And they should have food for the winter there.

Rejoiced such tidings good to hear,

The poor folk flocked from far and near;
The great barn was full as it could hold

Of women and children, and young and old.

Then, when he saw it could hold no more,
Bishop Hatto he made fast the door;
And, while for mercy on Christ they call,
He set fire to the barn, and burnt them all.

"I' faith, 'tis an excellent bonfire!" quoth he;
"And the country is greatly obliged to me
For ridding it, in these times forlorn,
Of rats that only consume the corn."

So then to his palace returned he,
And he sat down to supper merrily,

And he slept that night like an innocent man;
But Bishop Hatto never slept again.

In the morning, as he entered the hall,
Where his picture hung against the wall,
A sweat like death all over him came,
For the rats had eaten it out of the frame.

As he looked, there came a man from his farm,— He had a countenance white with alarm:

"My Lord, I opened your granaries this morn, And the rats had eaten all your corn."

Another came running presently,

And he was pale as pale could be.
"Fly! my Lord Bishop, fly!" quoth he,
"Ten thousand rats are coming this way,
The Lord forgive you for yesterday!"

"I'll go to my tower in the Rhine," replied he; "Tis the safest place in Germany,The walls are high, and the shores are steep,

And the tide is strong, and the water deep."

Bishop Hatto fearfully hastened away,

And he crossed the Rhine without delay,
And reached his tower, and barred with care
All the windows, and doors, and loop-holes there.

He laid him down and closed his eyes,
But soon a scream made him arise;
He started, and saw two eyes of flame

On his pillow, from whence the screaming came.

He listened and looked,-it was only the cat;
But the Bishop he grew more fearful for that,
For she sat screaming, mad with fear,
At the army of rats that were drawing near.

For they have swum over the river so deep,
And they have climbed the shores so steep,
And now by thousands up they crawl
To the holes and the windows in the wall.

Down on his knees the Bishop fell,
And faster and faster his beads did he tell,
As, louder and louder, drawing near,
The gnawing of their teeth he could hear.

And in at the windows, and in at the door,
And through the walls helter-skelter they pour;
And down from the ceiling and up through the floor,
From the right and the left, from behind and before,
From within and without, from above and below,—
And all at once to the Bishop they go.

They have whetted their teeth against the stones,
And now they pick the Bishop's bones;
They gnawed the flesh from every limb,
For they were sent to do judgment on him!

Robert Southey