Erlinton
From International Robin Hood Bibliography
Ballad | |
---|---|
Child | 8 |
Title | Erlinton |
Versions | 3 |
Variants | 4 |
Stanzas | 31 |
Date | 1803 or earlier |
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2014-09-02. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-10-21.
Child's title for this ballad is Erlinton. It exists in three versions, one of which features Robin Hood. This, the C version, is called Robin Hood and the Tanner's Daughter. Child reprints it from the edition in "Gutch's Robin Hood, [which was printed] from a manuscript of Mr Payne Collier, supposed to have been written about 1650".[1] As John Payne Collier had been exposed as a literary forger already around the mid-19th century and this version of Erlinton was known only from Collier's MS, Child's decision to include it in his collection without even noting the possibility it might be a forgery seems highly questionable.
Plot
Robin Hood meets a fair damsel, a tanner's daughter; they become lovers (straightaway), but soon the girl's two brothers come riding to fetch her home. A sword fight ensues in which Robin kills the elder brother but spares the younger at the girl's entreaty. The two then elope to the forest.
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. I, pp. 106-11. Additions and corrections: vol. III, pp. 498-99; vol. IV, pp. 445-47.
Notes