Bold Robing Hood- Harrington (VT) 1930 Flanders B
[From Flanders/Brown, Vermont Folk Songs & Ballads, p. 217; also Ancient Ballads, 1963.
R. Matteson 2015]
B. Bold Robing Hood. Recorded in Bennington, Vermont from the singing of Sharon Harrington, learned from his mother, Mrs. Rebecca Smith Harrington, in Shaftsbury, Vermont. Published in Vermont Folk Songs & Ballads, 217. Rebecca Smith's father was Abel Smith. Joseph Harrington, Rebecca's husband, was ten years older than she, and his father was Abram, grandfather of sharon Harrington. Abram's father was Saul, great-grandfather of Sharon Harrington. Saul was a doctor, dentist and, with his brother Eseriah, a Judge, came up from Rhode Island, to Shaftsbury on horse back. George Brown, Collector September 25, 1930. Structure: A B A B (2,2,2,2); Rhythm E; Contour: each half an inverted arc; Scale: Dorian
Bold Robing Hood
Bold Robing Hood and Little John
Went a-roving the world all o'er.
They met a man in peddler trim,
In peddler trim he seemed to be.
"What have you in your pack, pray, peddler trim?
What have you in your pack, pray tell to me?"
"I have seven suits of the grey green suits
Besides two bow strings, two or three."
"You've seven suits of the grey green suits
Besides two bow strings, two or three,
I will lay my life," says Little John,
That two of them belong to me."
He pulled his pack from off his back;
And laid it down so manenly,
Saying, "The man that'll drive me six inches from that,
My pack and all they'll take from me."
They swong their swords 'til the blood run down.
"Pray peddler trim, pray stand your land[1].
What is your name, pray, peddler trim?
What is your name, pray tell to me?"
"Not divil of a bit of my name you'll git
Til both of yours is told to me."
"If you say your name 'tis Will Gamuel Gay
And come ye far from over the sea,
We are two sisters' sons
And was banished from Amerikee."[2]
1. hand
2. This last line was practically spoken.