Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood
Ballad | |
---|---|
Child | 132 |
Title | The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood |
Versions | 1 |
Variants | More than 10 |
Stanzas | 15 |
Date | 1775 |
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2014-09-03. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-06-30.
The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood belongs to the large group of mostly late ballads in which the outlaw and/or members of his band accost a stalwart stranger, who usually represents some trade, and engage in a fight with him. In this case the stranger turns out to be a cousin of Robin Hood's named Gamble Gold. As Child notes, this ballad is essentially a traditional version of Robin Hood Newly Revived[1] and therefore, like it, preserves a distant echo of the tale of Gamelyn.
Plot
Date
According to J.H. Dixon, who first recorded this ballad from recitation before 1846, "[t]his ballad is of considerable antiquity, and no doubt much older than some of those inserted in the common garlands".[2] I can see no reason why this should be the case; Dixon does not provide any. The elderly lady from whose recitation the ballad was taken down told Dixon she had often heard her grandmother sing it,[2] but this would take us no further back than the second half of the 18th century, and nothing in the ballad itself seems particularly archaic to me. Its absence from the Robin Hood garlands is most probably due to its having come into being after their contents had become more or less fixed. Roy Palmer is almost certainly correct in suggesting an 18th century date of origin.[3] The earliest known version is that in Captain Delany's Garland, a broadsheet printed in 1775.
Variants
Child does not include or refer to any other texts than those of Dixon and Captain Delany's Garland (1775). He was most likely unaware of the 19th century broadside prints. After Child's collection appeared, the song has often been recorded by folk song collectors in the UK and elsewhere in the English-speaking world. For particulars see below under Editions: Primary sources.
Editions
Primary sources
Catnatch
Child 132 [a]
- Dixon, James Henry, transcr. [MS of the ballad Robin Hood and the Bold Pedlar (C132) as recited by an aged female in Bermondsey, Surrey. Present whereabouts unknown] ([No later than 1846]), pp. 71-74
- [Dixon, James Henry, ed.]; Bell, Robert, ed. Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England, taken down from Oral Recitation, and transcribed from Private Manuscripts, Rare Broadsides, and Scarce Publications (London, 1857), pp. 59-61
- In: Child, Francis James, ed.; [Kittredge, G. L.], ed.; [Ireland, Catharine Innes], bibl. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Boston and New York; Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, ©1882-98), vol. III, pp. 154-55.
Child 132 [b]
CS/Francis
- Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/1509). Recorded: 1908-04-22. Performed by Job Francis; Shipley, Sussex, England. First Line: "'Twas of a pedlar stout and bold". Collector: Cecil J Sharp.
RVW/Denny
- Ralph Vaughan Williams Manuscript Collection (BL, Add. MS 54190, f. 80v.) (RVW2/2/79). Recorded 1904-04-25. Performed by John Denny; Billericay, Essex, England. Title: Robing Wood And Little John. First line: 'It is of a pedlar, pedlar bold'. Collector; Ralph Vaughan Williams. For 'Wood' in title see the page on Wood for Hood.
Such 390
Scholarly and literary editions
- Child, Francis James, ed.; [Kittredge, G. L.], ed.; [Ireland, Catharine Innes], bibl. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Boston and New York; Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, ©1882-98), vol. III, pp. 154-55. Additions and corrections: vol. V, p. 240
- Dixon, James Henry, transcr. [MS of the ballad Robin Hood and the Bold Pedlar (C132) as recited by an aged female in Bermondsey, Surrey. Present whereabouts unknown] ([No later than 1846]), pp. 71-74 (Child 132 [a])
- Williams, Ralph Vaughan, ed.; Lloyd, A. L., ed. The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs (Harmondsworth, Middlesex; Baltimore, MD; Ringwood, Victoria, 1959), pp. 88-89, 121-22
- Williams, Ralph Vaughan, ed.; Lloyd, A. L., ed. The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. Reprinted (Harmondsworth, Middlesex; Baltimore, MD; Ringwood, Victoria, 1961), pp. 88-89, 121-22
- Williams, Ralph Vaughan, ed.; Lloyd, A. L., ed. The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. Reprinted (Harmondsworth, Middlesex; Baltimore, MD; Ringwood, Victoria, 1968), pp. 88-89, 121-22
- Williams, Ralph Vaughan, ed.; Lloyd, A. L., ed. The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. Reprinted (Harmondsworth, Middlesex; Baltimore, MD; Ringwood, Victoria, 1969), pp. 88-89, 121-22
- Williams, Ralph Vaughan, coll. & transcr.; Palmer, Roy, ed. Folk Songs (London; Melbourne; Toronto 1983), pp. 35-37.
Sources and analogues
Stanzas | Matter | Title | Analogue |
---|---|---|---|
1-15 | Similarity of plot etc. | Robin Hood Newly Revived | Child notes that Pedlar is a traditional variant of Newly Revived.[4] |
11-15 | Similarity in dialogue | Robin Hood's Delight | Child notes similarity of Pedlar sts. 11-12, 15 to Delight sts. 19-20, 24.[5] |
13-14 | Similarity in dialogue | Robin Hood Newly Revived | Child notes similarity of. Pedlar sts. 13-14 Newly Revived sts. 17-18.[6] |
Also see
Notes
- ↑ Child, Francis James, ed.; [Kittredge, G. L.], ed.; [Ireland, Catharine Innes], bibl. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Boston and New York; Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, ©1882-98), vol. III, p. 154.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 * Dixon, James Henry, transcr. [MS of the ballad Robin Hood and the Bold Pedlar (C132) as recited by an aged female in Bermondsey, Surrey. Present whereabouts unknown] ([No later than 1846]), p. 71.
- ↑ Williams, Ralph Vaughan, coll. & transcr.; Palmer, Roy, ed. Folk Songs (London; Melbourne; Toronto 1983), p. 35.
- ↑ Child, Francis James, ed.; [Kittredge, G. L.], ed.; [Ireland, Catharine Innes], bibl. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Boston and New York; Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, ©1882-98), vol. III, pp. 144 n. *, 154.
- ↑ Child, Francis James, ed.; [Kittredge, G. L.], ed.; [Ireland, Catharine Innes], bibl. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Boston and New York; Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, ©1882-98), vol. III, p. 154.
- ↑ Child, Francis James, ed.; [Kittredge, G. L.], ed.; [Ireland, Catharine Innes], bibl. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Boston and New York; Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, ©1882-98), vol. III, p. 154.
Image gallery
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Robin Hood and the Pedlar as sung by Job Francis; Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (Clare College, Cambridge), first page (CJS2/9/1509) / From Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
Robin Hood and the Pedlar as sung by Job Francis; Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (Clare College, Cambridge), last page (CJS2/9/1510) / From Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
Robing Wood and Little John (Robin Hood And The Pedlar) as sung by John Denny; Ralph Vaughan Williams Manuscript Collection (BL, Add. MS 54190, f. 80v.) (RVW2/2/79) / From Ralph Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood [and] The Trysting Tree ([Such broadside No.] 390) (London, [inter 1863 and 1885]); / From Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood ([London]; Cambridge; Brighton, [inter 1828-32]); Frank Kidson Manuscript Collection (FK/15/209/1) / From Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.