US & Canada Versions: 125. Robin Hood & Little John
[According to the Kirklands (1938): "Professor Child printed only one text, and did not include a variant from Virginia which is in his manuscript collection presently at the the Harvard." There is one version from Virginia (McCollough) originating in the early 1800s but this may be a different version.
There are four full authentic traditional US versions of Child 125, Robin Hood & Little John. The versions by Aunt Molly Jackson and the one collected by Niles are not recognized as authentic (see: Aunt Molly Jackson and Robin Hood: A Study in Folk Re-Creation by John Greenway). I will include these anyway, so noted. Two of the versions are fragmented (Creighton) or confused (Brown Collection). A version from the Brown Collection listed as Child 118, Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne, is apparently a version of this ballad. The ballad was originally titled Robin Hood and the Stranger and it likely is a variant of Child 125 or 132.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
CONTENTS: (To Access individual versions, click on highlighted blue title below)
1) Robin Hood and Little John- McCullough (IL-VA) 1808 -- From: Robin Hood and Little John by E. L. Wilson and H. S. V. Jones; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 23, No. 90 (Oct. - Dec., 1910), pp. 432-434. Sung in January, 1908, by William Shields McCullough of Normal, Illinois. Mr. McCullough was born at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, December 10, 1816, and moved to Illinois in 1854. He learned this song from an old man whom he heard sing it about eighty years ago.
2) Robin Hood and Little John- Cummings (KY) 1857 -- Taken from the article, Popular Ballads Recorded in Knoxville, Tennessee, in Southern Folklore Quarterly, vol. II, no. 2., pages 65-80. Music and texts from Edwin Capers Kirkland and Mary Neal Kirkland, 1938. Pound published this same version by the same informant in American Speech, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Nov., 1926), p. 75. Sung by Mrs. Mariana Schaupp, "who learned it from her father, Mr. Marion Taylor Cummings, who had it from his mother, Frances Hayden Cummings, once of Kentucky. It has been in the family for at least eighty years."
3) Robin Hood and the Stranger- Wilson (NC) 1914 Brown Collection -- From the Brown Collection; Volume II, 1953. The title of this ballad is "Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne" (Child, No. 118) as it appears in the Brown Collection. Clearly, someone from the collection added this title and was not local. According to Davis, (TBVa, 1929) it is reported from North Carolina by Brown under the title of "Robin Hood and the Stranger" and it appears to be a version of Robin Hood and Little John. Reported in December 1914 by G. C. Little of Marion, McDowell county, at that time a freshman in Trinity College, "as sung by Mr. C. A. Wilson, about sixty-five years of age, who lives near Marion."
4) Robin and John- Sizemore (KY) 1932 Niles -- From The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, 1961. This is likely a ballad recreation by Niles. Sung by Gilly Sizemore; Hazard Ky. 1932.
5) Robin Hood & Little John- Crosby (NS) 1950 Creighton -- Fragment from Creighton & Senior, Traditional Songs of Nova Scotia (1950) p. 67. Recalled by Vernon G. Crosby of Gardner's Mills, Nova Scotia.
6) Robin Hood & Little John- Flemming (NS) 1950 Creighton -- From: Creighton, Maritime Folk Songs (1961) pp. 19-20. Also titled, "When Robin Hood Was About Twenty Years Old." Sung by Mrs. Gilbert Flemming, Ketch Harbor, September, 1950.
7) Robin Hood & Little John- Roake (TN) 1950 Boswell -- From George Boswell Collection; Charles Wolfe editor, 1997. The informant Roake, originally from London, worked as a gardener at Austin Peay State College.
8) Little John Garland and Robin Hood- Jackson (KY) pre1956 Greenway -- 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. This is a ballad recreation from Child's text.
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Notes for Robin Hood and Little John by E. L. Wilson and H. S. V. Jones
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 23, No. 90 (Oct. - Dec., 1910), pp. 432-434
ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN
RECORDED BY E. L. WILSON, URBANA, ILLINOIS; EDITED BY H. S. V. JONES
THIS ballad of Robin Hood and Little John is an American version of Child, 125, which is "in a rank seventeenth-century style." It is about half as long as the English ballad, to which, however, it is closely similar in phraseology. Although the abridgment is most at the end, it will be noted that stanza 20 of this version corresponds to 29 and 30 of Child's. The following points also may be noted: the repetition in stanza 13, the confused dialogue in stanza 5, the change of place between Robin Hood and the stranger in stanza ii, and the patchwork of stanza 20. To facilitate reference, I have placed in parentheses at the side of each stanza the numbers borne by the corresponding stanzas in Child.
The ballad was sung in January, 1908, by William Shields McCullough of Normal, Illinois. Mr. c was born at Harper's
Ferry, Virginia, December 10, 1816, and moved to Illinois in 1854. He learned this song from an old man whom he heard sing it about eighty years ago.
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American Text of "Robin Hood and Little John" [Cummings version, published again in 1937 by the Kirklands] by Louise Pound; American Speech, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Nov., 1926), p. 75
AMERICAN TEXT OF "ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN"
ROBIN HOOD ballads have not often found their way into oral survival in the United States. The following text of a ballad concerning Robin Hood and Little John cannot be traced back very far. It is contributed by Marianna Cummings of Lincoln, Nebraska, as she heard it sung by her grandmother, Frances Hayden Cummings, who learned it in her girlhood in Kentucky.
It deserves preservation, however it may have reached Kentucky, because of the interest of Robin Hood ballads and their
stories and variant texts.
ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN
When Robin Hood was about eighteen years old
He chanced to meet Little John,
A jolly brisk blade just fit for his trade
For he was a sturdy young man.
Altho he was little his limbs they were large,
His stature was seven feet high.
Wherever he came he soon quickened his name
And presently caused them to fly.
One day these two met on a long narrow bridge,
And neither of them would give way,
When Robin stepped up to the stranger and said,
"I'll show you brave Nottingham play."
"You speak like a coward," the stranger, he said,
"As there with your long-bow you stand;
I vow and protest you may shoot at my breast
While I have but a staff in my hand."
"The name of a coward," said Robin, "I scorn,
And so my long-bow I lay by
And then for your sake a staff I will take
The strength of your manhood to try."
Then Robin he stepped out into a grove
And pulled up a staff of green oak,
And this being done straight back he did come,
And thus to the stranger he spoke:
"Behold thou my staff, it is lusty and tough,
On this long narrow bridge let us play;
Then he who falls in, the other shall win
The battle and then we'll away."
Then Robin hit the stranger a crack on the crown
That caused the blood to appear
And thus so enraged they more closely engaged
And laid on the blows most severe.
The stranger gave Robin a crack on the crown
That was a most terrible stroke,
The very next blow laid Robin below
And tumbled him into the brook.
"Oh where are you now?" the stranger he cried;
With a hearty laugh in reply,
"Oh, faith, in the flood" quoth bold Robin Hood,
"And floating away with the tide."
Then Robin he waded all out of the deep
And pulled himself up by a thorn,
Then just at the last he blew a loud blast
So merrily on his bugle horn.
The hills they did echo, the valleys did ring
Which caused his gay men to appear,
All dressed in green most fair to be seen
Straight up to the master they steer.
"What aileth thee, master?" quoth William Stutely,
"You seem to be wet to the skin."
"No matter," quoth he, "This villain you see
In fighting hath tumbled me in."
"We'll pluck out his eyes and duck him likewise,"
Then seized they the stranger right there,
"Nay, let him go free," quoth bold Robin Hood,
"For he's a brave fellow. Forbear!
"Cheer up jolly blade and don't be afraid
Of all these gay men that you see,
There are four-score and nine and if you will be mine
You may wear of my own liverie."
A brace of fat deer was quickly brought in,
Good ale and strong liquor likewise.
The feast was so good, all in the greenwood
Where this jolly babe was baptised
LOUISE POUND.
University of Nebraska.
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[This is a ballad recreation from Jackson; The following excerpts are 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]
Whether or not Aunt Molly is the latter-day Robin Hood she believes herself to be, she is certainly a member of the folk. From the age of four she has been singing traditional ballads passed down in her family for seven generations in back-country Kentucky. Her voice, when young, was pleasing enough for her to be recorded semi-professionally by commercial hill-billy companies, and she has the phenomenal memory of the greatest folk singers. But though more than 200 of her records are in the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress, she is not nearly so well known among folklorists a s she should be, for she has a genius for alienating collectors. More even than coal operators she hates collectors who "fix up" her texts, and it is impossible to avoid offending her in this matter. One takes down a song as accurately as possible, submits the text to her for checking, and immediately receives the fury of her monumental rage for "messing up" the song. She cannot be convinced that she never sings a song the same way twice. Not only words but tunes also change without provocation.
The question of primary interest to folklorists concerning Aunt Molly's ballads is whether they are "authentic," that is, whether they have been preserved through oral tradition. Although they exhibit as much as if not more variation than the other Robin Hood survivals accepted by Professors Coffin and Millar, and despite Aunt Molly's vociferous protestations that she learned them as a child from her great-grandmother, I am convinced that the onlie begetter of these ballads is our ubiquitous Sargent and Kittredge. For that matter, I doubt that any Robin Hood ballads found in America have been received purely through oral channels. Admittedly the broadside hawkers do not seem to have done as well with Robin Hood as they did with Lord Bateman, for a man who is thrashed by every beggar, tinker, and curtal friar he meets is hardly assured of heroic perpetuation. Neverthelesst here were Robin Hood broadsides as well as copies of Sargent and Kittredge in this country. Even Benjamin Franklin complained", I have known a very numerous impression of Robin Hood songs go off in this Province at 2 cents per Book less than a Twelvemonth; when a small quantity of David's Psalms have lain on my hands above twice the time."[3]
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. Finally, Little John himself was a Garland!
LITTLE JOHN GARLAND AND ROBIN HOOD
(Child 125: Robin Hood and Little John)[4]
(I54:2)
1. Of Little John and bold Robin Hood
A story to you I will tell;
Which being rightly understood,
I am sure will please you well.
2. When Robin Hood was about twenty years old
He met with Little John;
They had a fight, and Robin Hood
Was tumbled in the pond.
3. Now Little John was large and strong
He was seven foot tall;
And always when he struck a man,
He always had to fall.
4. Now I will tell you how they first met
If you will listen awhile,
For this is one joke among all the rest
I am sure it will make you smile.
5. Now Robin Hood said to his jolly bowmen,
"I want you to stay in this grove,
And carefully listen to hear me call
While through the forest I rove.
6. 'We have had no sport for fourteen long days,
So out looking for excitement I go;
And should I get beat till I cannot retreat,
My horn for you loudly I will blow."
7. Then Robin Hood shook hands with his merry men all
And bid them at present goodbye;
Then by the side of a brook a journey he took
And a tall stranger he happened to spy.
8. They happened to meet on a long narrow bridge
And neither of them would give way;
Said bold Robin Hood as proudly he stood,
"I will show you the Nottinghams' play."
9. Then from his quiver an arrow he drew,
A broad arrow with a long goose wing;
Then Little John replied, "I will sure tan your hide
If you offer to touch your bowstring."
10. Said brave Robin Hood, "You say that you would,
But if I ever bend my bow,
I will shoot a dart right through your proud heart
Before you could strike me one blow."
11. "You talk like a coward," said Little John Garland,
"With a bow and a sword as you stand;
You could shoot at my chest, but sir, I protest,
I don't even have a staff in my hand."
12. "I am not a coward," said bold Robin Hood,
"And the name of a coward I scorn;
And to prove you do lie, my bow and sword I'll lay by,
And the truth of your manhood I shall try."
13. Then Robin stepped over to a thicket of trees
And chose him a staff of red oak;
And over to Little John Garland he stepped
And these are the words that he spoke:
14. "You see my staff is large and tough;
Now here on this bridge we will play;
And if you knock me in, we will say you have won-
Now, stranger, what do you say?"
15. "With all of my heart," Little John replied,
"I am too proud to give in
As long as I'm able to handle my staff,
And believe me, I'm sure I will win."
16. So they started the fight, and they struck left and right;
Robin Hood made his oak staff ring.
Then Little John said, "You must be repaid;
I shall give you the very same thing."
17. Then Little John gave Robin a lick on the head
That started his blood to flow.
"Fight on, stranger," said bold Robin Hood,
"You are a brave good fighter, I know."
18. Then thick and fast Little John mended his licks
And faster his anger did grow;
Then with a scornful look he tumbled
Robin in the brook
About fifty feet below.
19. "Tell me, brave fellow, where are you now?"
Little John with laughter cried.
"I am under the bridge," said bold Robin Hood,
"And drifting around with the tide.
20. "I must acknowledge you are a strong brave man;
With you I would like to be friends."
Then to the bank of the brook Robin did wade
And with Little John Robin shook hands.
21. Then Robin Hood put his horn to his mouth
And with it he blew a loud blast;
Then came his bowmen in green, most brave to be seen,
And they said, "We heard you at last."
22. "What can we do, good master, for you?"
One of his bowmen cried.
'You are wet to the skin; where have you been?"
Then Robin Hood replied,
"This good man that you see has been fight with me,
And he tumbled me into the tide."
23. "He shall not go scot-free," the bowmen said.
"Do not touch him," Robin replied;
"For I do declare he is as stout as a bear
And we need such good men on our side.
24. "I am your true friend," said bold Robin Hood,
"So please don't be afraid;
You are a brave man as I understand
And I'm proud of the part you have played.
25. "These men are my bowmen that come at my call,
I have three score and nine;
And if you'll agree to stay here with me,
I will make you a bowman of mine.
26. "Now what do you say? You have nothing to fear,
I will teach you to hunt deer and bear;
I will always see, if you stay here with me,
You always will have equal share.
27. "I will give you my hand, you will be my top man,
And always my friend, I declare;
My offer is good," said bold Robin Hood,
"Now Little John, what do you say?"
"Since you put it that way, with you I will stay,
And we will live from the fat of the land.
28. "They call me Little John, but as you can see,
I am not little at all;
You will find lots of men much smaller than me-
You see, I am seven foot tall."
29. Then Robin and Little John walked hand in hand
And to Robin's wardrobe they did go;
Then Robin Hood dressed Little John in the best
From his head to the tip of his toe.
30. Then in his hand Robin Hood put a fine bow;
"As an archer you'll be one of the best;
We will take from the rich and give to the poor,
You'll never need for gold and silver any more.
31. "We will take gold from the priests and bishops and monks
While they slumber and snore;
As long as bishops and monks has gold in their trunks
And we are able to open the door.
We will live good ourselves with good food on our shelves,
And give lots to the needy and poor.
32. "We will live here and eat deer and bear meat
Like squires and lords of renown,
And as long as our life shall endure I am sure
With plenty we shall always be found."
33. With music and dancing they finished the day
And Little John uniting, did celebrate;
And Robin rejoiced at the top of his voice
Because he had found a true mate.
34. Little John and Robin Hood remained true friends
Until brave Robin Hood's death;
And on Little John's chest, as I have heard it said,
Is where bold Robin Hood drew his last breath.
35. And again I have heard that old folks of England said,
And after brave Robin was dead,
That Little John Garland helped place the stone
At bold Robin Hood's head.
It will be seen that Aunt Molly's version of this ballad borrows the introductory stanza from Martin Parker's "A True Tale of Robin Hood" (Child 154) and then parallels "Robin Hood and Little John" (Child 125) rather closely to stanza 27, omitting stanzas 29 to 34 of the Child version (the episode of the christening), and picking up the story again from Child 35 to 39. She omits eight of Child's stanzas (16, 29-34, 39), telescopes four of his into two of hers (his I8th and 19th become her 18th; his 22nd and 23rd become her 21st), and adds five entirely new stanzas of her own (24, 28, 31, 34, and 38). Aunt Molly's version is thus four stanzas shorter than the Child text. The rime parallels the Child version in 17 stanzas. Aunt Molly drops the third line internal rime, the hallmark of Robin Hood ballads, in 14 stanzas, but of the stanzas retaining internally-rimed lines, four are newly devised.
Metrical irregularity has never meant much to Aunt Molly, and she has made no effort to resolve the inconsistency of her frequent six-line stanzas. They are always disturbing to the editor, but even Child had to put up with them, concluding that couplets of half-forgotten stanzas often attached themselves to other complete stanzas. [5] There are several significant features in Aunt Molly's version: her introduction of economic allusion, characteristic of her songs and ballads; the inclusion of the tradition that Little John was the only member of Robin's band present at the fatal phlebotomy and that he helped set the famous headstone; and the omission of the christening episode. Both of the other two American versions of this ballad that have been printed drop the anti-climatic jest of the baptism, which emendation Edwin Kirkland adduced as evidence that the folk often improved the ballads they received. [6] I should like to cite this as a third example of conscious change due to critical sensitivity, but it is more likely that the substitution of "Garland" for John's traditional surname of "Little" necessitated the dropping of the christening episode in the present ballad.
Although Aunt Molly's version is further from the Child text than either of the two variants that have been published as authentic survivals, [7] there does not seem to be any doubt that the Child text is the source of Aunt Molly's ballad.
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The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
125. ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN
Texts: American Speech, II, #2 / JAFL, XXIII, 432; XXVII, 57 / SFLQ, II, 72; IV, 15.
Local Titles: Robin Hood and Little John.
Story Types: A: Robin Hood meets Little John on a narrow bridge over a river; neither will give way to let the other pass. When Robin threatens John, the latter calls him a coward as Robin has a bow and John only a staff. Robin then cuts himself a staff, and they fight. After an exchange of blows, Robin is knocked in the water. He pulls himself out and summons his men with a bugle blast. The men are going to duck Little John and pluck out his eyes, but Robin deters them and asks John to join the band. All have a feast.
Examples: American Speech, II; SFLQ, II, 72.
Discussion: American texts are rare and the few that do exist show the influence of print. The Nebraska version is from Kentucky and the Illinois text from Virginia which points to a southern origin for the song.
For a detailed analysis of the effects of transmission on Robin Hood and Little John see E. C. Kirkland, SFLQ, IV, 15 21. He compares a Tennessee- Ohio version line by line with Child 125 A to demonstrate the improvements oral tradition has made in the ballad with respect to narrative effect and diction. H. S. V. Jones (J4FL, XXIII, 432) compares the Virginia-Illinois
version with Child 125, also.
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[Ballad from Brown Collection; Volume II, 1953, titled 32. Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne (Child 118) but it is likely a version Robin Hood and Little John]
The Robin Hood ballads, which bulk so large in the Child collection, have but few and weak echoes in American tradition — perhaps because life in America has never borne much resemblance to the social and economic conditions which produced the figures of Robin and his crew. The story of Robin and Guy, known even in England only from Percy's famous folio manuscript, has never been reported from American tradition until now. And our text, though it certainly derives from the same story, is vague and incomplete. Metrically it is so badly disordered as to seem, often, like a prose resume of (part of) the story; yet the rhymes show that the text derives from stanzaic form. One wonders how the text as reported here could ever have been sung to an air, but it is described as sung. Very likely the state of the text is due to imperfect recollection on the part of the reporter.
[Robin Hood and the Stranger] 'Robin Hood and Guy of Gusborne.' Reported in December 1914 by G. C. Little of Marion, McDowell county, at that time a freshman in Trinity College, "as sung by Mr. C. A. Wilson, about sixty-five years of age, who lives near Marion."
1 Old Robin Hood was a bold, bold man.
In the green forest he had a great clan,
And the way he killed men, it was a sin to the land.
2 With his great bow he slew many a deer,
And when the people caught sight of him
They shook with fear.
3 One day, as they say, a stranger pass that way
And to bold Robin chanced to say,
'I'm in search of an outlaw bold
Who has committed many murders, so I'm told.'
4 'And if by chance to find, this outlaw shall be mine.'
5 After they had gone quite a way on that fine day
The stranger to Robin did boldly say,
'Pray ye, good fellow, tell me thy name,
For such a guide as you deserves fame.'
6 And it was then that he learned
That his guide was the outlaw bold
Who had committed the murders
Of which he had been told.
7 And it was there that this stranger of old
Was slain by the outlaw bold
Who lived in the merry green wood of old.