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 |
A.k.a. | The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood; Robin Hood and the Pedlar; Robing Wood and Little John |


By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2014-09-03. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-11-14.
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.
Contents
- 1 Plot
- 2 Date
- 3 Broadsides and traditional variants
- 4 Editions
- 5 Sources and analogues
- 6 Also see
- 7 Notes
- 8 Image gallery
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.
Broadsides and traditional variants
Child does not include or refer to any other texts than those of Dixon and Captain Delany's Garland (1775). He was unaware of or not interested in the 19th century broadside prints. After his 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. Child did not employ sigils for the variants from which he printed the ballad. They are designated a and b below. Variants not known to or used by Child are listed under collectors' names, with a hyphen and number added in cases where two or more were collected by the same collector.Editions
Primary editions
- Anonymous. Captain Delany's Garland, Containing 5 New Songs. I. Captain Delany's Garland. II. Robin Hood and the Proud Pedlar. III. Roger the Miller. IV. The Liverpool. V. Love and Friendship ([Edinburgh?], [1775]). Title: 'Robin Hood and the Proud Pedlar'. A broadside
- Anonymous. The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood ([London]; Cambridge; Brighton, [inter 1828-32]). Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- Anonymous. The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood [and] The Trysting Tree ([Such broadside No.] 390) (London, [inter 1863 and 1885]). Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- Broadwood, Lucy E. ed. English Traditional Songs and Carols, collected and edited, with annotations and Pianoforte Accompaniments (London and New York, ©1906), pp. 4-5, Appendix, p. 223. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- Broadwood, Lucy E. ed. English Traditional Songs and Carols, collected and edited, with annotations. With Words and Voice Part (in Old Notation and Tonic Sol-fa) (London and New York, ©1906), pp. 4-5, Appendix, p. 223. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- 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]).
- [Williams, Ralph Vaughan], transcr. Robing Wood and Little John. MS MS RVW2/2/79. [1904-04-25]. Ralph Vaughan Williams Manuscript Collection (BL, Add. MS 54190, f. 80v). Title: 'Robing Wood and Little John'. Recorded 1908-04-25. Performed by John Denny; Billericay, Essex, England. First line: 'It is of a pedlar, pedlar bold'. Collector; Ralph Vaughan Williams
Scholarly and literary editions
- Broadwood, Lucy E. ed. English Traditional Songs and Carols, collected and edited, with annotations and Pianoforte Accompaniments (London and New York, ©1906), pp. 4-5, Appendix, p. 223. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- Broadwood, Lucy E. ed. English Traditional Songs and Carols, collected and edited, with annotations. With Words and Voice Part (in Old Notation and Tonic Sol-fa) (London and New York, ©1906), pp. 4-5, Appendix, p. 223. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- 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. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- Dixon, James Henry, 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 (Percy Society) (London. 1846), pp. 71-74. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- 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. Title: 'Robin Hood and the Pedlar'.
- 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. Title: 'Robin Hood and the Pedlar'.
- 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. Title: 'Robin Hood and the Pedlar'.
- 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. Title: 'Robin Hood and the Pedlar'.
- Williams, Ralph Vaughan, coll. & transcr.; Palmer, Roy, ed. Folk Songs (London; Melbourne; Toronto 1983), pp. 88-89, 121-22. Title: 'Robin Hood and the Pedlar'.
Variant: a
Primary editions
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. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- Dixon, James Henry, 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 (Percy Society) (London. 1846), pp. 71-74. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
Variant: b
Primary editions
- Anonymous. Captain Delany's Garland, Containing 5 New Songs. I. Captain Delany's Garland. II. Robin Hood and the Proud Pedlar. III. Roger the Miller. IV. The Liverpool. V. Love and Friendship ([Edinburgh?], [1775]). Title: 'Robin Hood and the Proud Pedlar'. A broadside
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. V, p. 240. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
Variant: Broadwood
Primary editions
- Broadwood, Lucy E. ed. English Traditional Songs and Carols, collected and edited, with annotations and Pianoforte Accompaniments (London and New York, ©1906), pp. 4-5, Appendix, p. 223. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- Broadwood, Lucy E. ed. English Traditional Songs and Carols, collected and edited, with annotations. With Words and Voice Part (in Old Notation and Tonic Sol-fa) (London and New York, ©1906), pp. 4-5, Appendix, p. 223. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
Scholarly and literary editions
- Broadwood, Lucy E. ed. English Traditional Songs and Carols, collected and edited, with annotations and Pianoforte Accompaniments (London and New York, ©1906), pp. 4-5, Appendix, p. 223. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
- Broadwood, Lucy E. ed. English Traditional Songs and Carols, collected and edited, with annotations. With Words and Voice Part (in Old Notation and Tonic Sol-fa) (London and New York, ©1906), pp. 4-5, Appendix, p. 223. Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
Variant: Catnatch
Primary editions
- Anonymous. The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood ([London]; Cambridge; Brighton, [inter 1828-32]). Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
Variant: Sharp
Primary editions
- [Sharp, Cecil James], transcr. Robin Hood & the Pedlar. MS CJS2/9/1509. [1908-04-22]. Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection, Clare College, Cambridge. Title: 'Robin Hood & the Pedlar'. Recorded 1908-04-22. Performed by Job Francis, Shipley, Sussex, England. First Line: "'Twas of a pedlar stout and bold". Collector: Cecil J Sharp
Variant: Such
Primary editions
- Anonymous. The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood [and] The Trysting Tree ([Such broadside No.] 390) (London, [inter 1863 and 1885]). Title: 'The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood'.
Variant: Williams
Primary editions
- [Williams, Ralph Vaughan], transcr. Robing Wood and Little John. MS MS RVW2/2/79. [1904-04-25]. Ralph Vaughan Williams Manuscript Collection (BL, Add. MS 54190, f. 80v). Title: 'Robing Wood and Little John'. Recorded 1908-04-25. Performed by John Denny; Billericay, Essex, England. First line: 'It is of a pedlar, pedlar bold'. Collector; Ralph Vaughan Williams
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.