Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood
From International Robin Hood Bibliography
Ballad | |
---|---|
Child | 132 |
Title | The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood |
Versions | 1 |
Variants | More than 5 |
Stanzas | 15 |
Date | 1775 |
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2014-09-03. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-06-19.
The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood belongs to the large group of (generally 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 and therefore, like it, preserves a distant echo of the tale of Gamelyn.
Plot
A pedlar with a pack on his back is accosted by Robin Hood and Little John. The latter asks him what he is carrying. The pedlar says his pack is full of suits of green silk and silken bow-strings. Little John wants half of it. The pedlar says he can have it all if he can make him yield an inch. Little John pulls out his sword, and the two fight. Taunting them, Robin says he could find a smaller man who could thrash them both. Little John in response challenges Robin to try his luck with the pedlar. This he does until the blood flows in streams. Robin wants to know the stranger's name, but he will know the outlaws' names first. After the attackers have introduced themselves, the pedlar tells them is Gamble Gold who had left England for killing a man. 'Then you are my cousin', says Robin. They sheath their swords and go to a tavern to eat and drink.
Primary editions
Child 132[a]
RVW 21
- Williams, Ralph Vaughan 1983, pp. 35-37.
Editions
Scholarly collections
- 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.
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.[1] |
11-15 | Similarity in dialogue | Robin Hood's Delight | Child notes similarity of Pedlar sts. 11-12, 15 to Delight sts. 19-20, 24.[2] |
13-14 | Similarity in dialogue | Robin Hood Newly Revived | Child notes similarity of. Pedlar sts. 13-14 Newly Revived sts. 17-18.[3] |
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, 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.