Bluegrass Messengers

US & Can. Versions: 138. Robin Hood & Alan-a-Dale

[Two versions have been reported in the US, both of questionable nature. The Kentucky version by Aunt Molly Jackson was detailed by John Greenway in his article, Aunt Molly Jackson and Robin Hood: A Study in Folk Re-Creation (see below). The other version via Kentucky from Tennessee was reported by Roberts in his book, In the Pines which is titled "My Name is Alan-A-Dale." The second version is possibly traditional.

R. Matteson 2012, 2015]


CONTENTS: (See ballad texts and notes below)

     1) Robin Hood and Allan-a-Dale: Jackson (KY) 1956 Greenway
     2) My Name is Alan-A-Dale: Whitaker (TN) 1957 Tompkins/Roberts
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From: Aunt Molly Jackson and Robin Hood: A Study in Folk Re-Creation
by John Greenway
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 69, No. 271 (Jan. - Mar., 1956), pp. 23-38

[Excerpt 1] Whether Aunt Molly is deliberately trying to deceive, or whether she has convinced herself that these ballads were learned in her childhood is a matter hard to decide, since even her prodigious memory is exceeded by her imagination. To confirm my suspicion that the Sargent and Kittredge one-volume compilation of the Child ballads was the source of Aunt Molly's knowledge of the Robin Hood pieces, I wrote to Mary Elizabeth Barnicle, one of the early collectors of Aunt Molly's songs. "Yes," Miss Barnicle replied, she had lent Aunt Molly a copy of the book in the early thirties. "I was scraping the bottom of the barrel so far as her memory of the British ballads went and lent her the book in the hope that she might find something that would revive further memories. In a few days she came padding back to tell me that she now remembered some RH ballads. She sang them, more or less verbatim, as she had found them in the Child book."

Aunt Molly will be furious if she hears this. She insists that she learned these as a four-year-old from her great-grandmother, Nancy Robinson, who was then ninety-two. She maintains also that it was a tradition in her family that many of the Robin Hood ballads were written by her paternal ancestors, the Garlands, before they came to America in the eighteenth century. She says that she remembers her great-grandmother often humorously referring to her great-grandfather, William Garland, as a "Northumberlander," and there is only one other English shire to be preferred to Northumberland if we wish to accept Aunt Molly's story concerning the provenance of her ballads.

[Excerpt 2] In "Little John Garland and Robin Hood" the name "John Garland" is a superficial addition, but in "Robin Hood and Allen a Dale" (Child 138) the surname becomes a fundamental part of the rime of one stanza.

ROBIN HOOD AND ALLEN A DALE
(Tune: "Rocky Mountain Top")

1. I will sing for you a true love song,
To me it sounds so good;
It is a true story of Allen Dale and his bride
And the outlaw Robin Hood.

2. Robin Hood was sitting alone one day
In the shade of a green bay tree;
He saw a young man come riding along
And he wondered who he might be-
He was dressed like a king or a lord
Or a baron of high degree.

3. Then Robin Hood went out in the lone green wood
To take a walk next day;
He looked up and saw the same young man
Come traveling along the way,
But the clothes he had wore the day before
He had now cast away.

4. Then Robin Hood went to his gallant men
And to them he did say:
"The man we saw yesterday afternoon
Has passed again today,
But his clothes looked bad and he looked so sad
Like his plans was rearranged.

5. "He has sat down to take a rest
Under the green bay tree;
Now you go down and capture him
And bring him over to me."

6. Then up stepped Little John Garland;
"How do you do," said he;
"I have orders from my master Robin Hood
To bring you along with me."

7. Then up stepped another one of Robin Hood's men,
Nick, the miller's son;
Aunt Molly Jackson and Robin Hood
Saying, "You had better come along with us now,
So do not try to run."

8. 'What does your master want with me?
I have done no wrong."
'You will soon learn what he wants with you,
So you had better come along."

9. When he come in before brave Robin Hood
To him young Robin said:
"Are you sick, young man, or are you scared,
What makes you look so bad?"

10. "I am not sick, I am not scared,
As I may seem to be;
A rich old knight has broke my heart
By stealing my true love from me."

11. "How much will you give me," Robin Hood said,
"In gold or ready fee
If I will capture your true love again
And bring her back to thee?"

12. "I have no money but five shillings and a ring,"
He said in bitter tears;
"I was to be married to a girl
I have loved for more than seven years.

13. "I have no gold to give you, kind sir,
As you can plainly see;
But I will be your slave till I go down in my grave
If you will bring my love back to me."

14. "How many miles is it to your true love?
Tell me with a smile."
"I will swear to you by my body and soul,
It is only five short miles."

15. Then Robin Hood rode with all his speed
He was dressed up like a king;
He rode till he come to Nottingham town,
Then he heard the church bells begin to ring.

16. Then Robin bowed low, and the bishop then said,
"Tell me who you may be."
"I am a harper," said bold Robin Hood,
"And the best in the North Country."

I7. "You are quite welcome," the bishop then said,
"Your music pleases me."
"I will play no music," Robin Hood said,
"Till the bride and the bridegroom I see."

18. The next come in was a wealthy knight,
Who was both gray and old;
And by his side was a fair young girl
With hair like ringlets of gold.

19. "This old gray knight is not fitting for her,
And him she shall not wed;
The bride shall choose her own bridegroom-
Stand back!" Robin Hood said.

20. Then Robin Hood put his horn to his mouth
And blew it one-two-three;
Then twenty-four bowmen bold and strong
Came leaping over the lee.

21. Then they come marching into the church
With their arrows and their bows;
The man in front was Allen a Dale
And to Robin he bowed low.

22. "Is this your true love?" said Robin Hood;
"It is," young Allen Dale said.
"Get ready at once," said Robin Hood,
"This day you shall be wed."

23. "That shall not be," the bishop said,
"For the old knight has claimed her hand;
And the knight's bride this girl shall be,
For this is the law of the land."

24. Then Robin Hood pulled off the bishop's coat
And put it on Little John Garland;
"Now you can take the old bishop's place
And marry Allen Dale to his darling."

25. When Little John went into the choir
He spoke out loud and rough;
Seven times he asked, "Who gives this bride away?"
As if three times was not enough.

26. "I do," said bold Robin Hood,
With a loud and angry cry,
"And the man that takes her from Allen Dale,
That moment he shall die."

27. Then Allen Dale was married to the girl he loved,
And the bride looked as happy as a queen;
They rode away to the merry woods that day,
To live among the trees so green-
And that rich old knight vanished out of sight
And never any more was he seen.

Superficially it would seem that Aunt Molly's version of "Robin Hood and Allen a Dale" and the Child text are very close, for each has the same number of stanzas (27), the rime coincides in 17 stanzas, the principal incidents are similar, and the last 15 stanzas of each are parallel. However, Aunt Molly has made many changes, some of them fundamental. The identification of Little John as one of her ancestors is of course no more than an amusing insertion, though the rime it necessitates in stanza 24 ("Garland" and "darling") is delightful; but the other changes are more important in considering whether folk re-creation is degenerative. Aunt Molly's opening stanza, unlike the very general introduction in the Child text, tells precisely what the ballad is to concern; her story is more dramatic, her transitions are smoother, her rimes are surer, and her version makes better sense throughout, except for her misunderstanding of the banns. In the Child text there is no reason for Robin's wanting Allen brought before him; Aunt Molly's new fourth stanza explains Robin's curiosity at the change in Allen's appearance, which is passed over quickly in the Child version. In the Child text Robin's first words to Allen are little more than "Stand and deliver!" and his motive seems to be overt robbery, but in Aunt Molly's ballad Robin asks first the cause of Allen's woebegone countenance, and the request for fee is subordinated to his desire to right the wrong done to the young man. These changes provide a more fluid transition to Allen's background story; in the Child text the transition is abrupt and Robin's offer of assistance psychologically unmotivated.

Except for the brilliant "drooping" in the fourth stanza of the Child text Aunt Molly's language is more natural and effective in every case, though not always a poetic improvement. We might compare, for example, the last two lines of the Child version's tenth stanza, "And chosen to be an old knight's delight / Whereby my poor heart is slain," with Aunt Molly's "A rich old knight has broke my heart / By stealing my true love from me," or the concluding lines in the eighteenth stanza, "And after him a finikin lass / Did shine like glistering gold," with Aunt Molly's "And by his side was a fair young girl / With hair like ringlets of gold."

If these alone are not convincing, Aunt Molly's dramatic nineteenth stanza might be put over against its counterpart in the Child text: "'This is no fit match,' quoth bold Robin Hood, / 'That you do seem to make here; / For since we are come unto the church / The bride she shall chuse her own dear.'"

"Robin Hood and Allen a Dale" seems entirely dependent on the Child text, although the four examples of third line internal rime, absent in the original version, are most interesting. It is not usual for folk singers to make the rime scheme more complicated in Aunt Molly's variant of "Robin Hood and the Beggar" (Child 133-I ), for instance, she drops the internal rime in all but four stanzas.

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This version is via Kentucky from Tennessee and was reported by Roberts in his, In the Pine which is titled "My Name is Alan-A-Dale." His notes follow:

24. MY NAME IS ALAN-A.DALE
(Child 138)

Professor Child had three broadside variants of the 17th century (Pepys,Davis) for his study and acceptance of this among his many Robin Hood ballads. The prose narrative about Scarlock in the life of Robin Hood had in the Sloane Manuscript nearly a century earlier. This one and about forty other Robin Hood ballads labored over by Child (Nos. 117-154) have not often been found in oral tradition. Very few scattered titles have been reported in Britain, and Coffin can report only ten or twelve recovered in America.

For the present ballad he can cite only one appearance, that in JAF, 1956, 28-38. In this article, Child no. 138 is one of seven Robin Hood ballads John Greenway collected from Aunt Molly Garland Jackson of Clay County, Kentucky. I never met her but have heard of her fantastic repertoire of traditional and protest songs, and occasionally a student cites her as source (see my Child no. 74). Professor Greenway inquired of another collector and learned that she had lent Aunt Molly a copy of Sargent and Kittredge (ESPB). When Greennway studied her Robin Hood texts he came to the conclusion that she had followed the child text in general and had telescoped, expanded, and added stanzas to sing the ballad, even to improve it with more logical transitions and smoother rhyme and meter. With this ballad, for instance, containing 21 quatrains, she had altered almost every stanza, and had come out with exactly 27 stanzas. Not included by Lawless.

The present text has a few half lines identical with the Child and the Aunt Molly variants, but in no case does it have so much as a half stanza identical to either. My text tries to do in 31 lines what the Child and Molly texts do in over a hundred. Greenway says (p. 24);" I doubt that any Robin Hood ballads found in America have been received through purely oral channels." This is a safe assertion because so few have been received at all. But here is one that shows a good bit of wear and erosion, forgetting, and amending. It, along with several other interesting ballads, was turned in to me without music in 1957 by an in-service teach, Katherine Tompkins, age about 45 years, taking courses at Union College in Southeastern Kentucky. Her childhood was spent in Virginia, some years in Kentucky, and she is presently living in Tennessee. She says of it: "He knew no tune, could not remember all the verses. Sam Whitaker, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, age about 45."

"My Name is Alan-A-Dale" from Sam Whitaker, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, age€ about 45; 1957.

1. As Robin Hood in the Greenwood stood,
A young man he did spy.
As the man slowly lifted his head,
He looked Robin in the eye.

2. Robin politely said, as he had said before,
"Do you have any money to spare?"
"I have but five shillings and a ring,
For seven long years I have kept this in wait.

3. "I thought yesterday I would be wed,
On arriving I found I was too late,
For tomorrow another's bride she will be."

4. "What will you give," said Robin Hood,
"If your true love I will set free?"
"I have no money to pay a fee,
But your servant I will always be."

5. Then swiftly rode Robin Hood
To where the little church stood'
As he drew nigh, he soon did spy
A wealthy knight in glistening gold.

6. When Robin to the knight did say,
"Might this be Your wedding day?"
With an answer the knight did say,
"Get out, get out, You beggar, you,
Before I have you beheaded today."

7. Then Robin did whistle,
His men come like a thistle,
And carried the knight away.

8. Robin took off the preacher's coat
And put it on Little John,
Then the real wedding begun,
And the bride looked fresh as a queen.