Anonymous British

Le Morte de Robin Hode

To Kerklees stately priorie Came an old time-worn man, And for food and shelter prayed he, Ye chief of a noble clan He was -- who in Burnsdale and merrie Sherwood Sported blithely in time agone, And albeit full could crept his sluggish blode, Yt ye step was firm and ye bearing proud, Of Robin, ye outlawed one. And ye prioress gave him a brimming bowle, And bade him drink deep therein, "'Twould solace" she said, "his fainting sowle;" And her's was a deadlie sinne. For, although he called her his sister dear, And she smiled when she poured for him Ye sparkling wine, there was poison there, And herself had mingled ye druggs with care; And she pledged her guest, with a thrill of fear, Though she touched but ye goblet's brim, Fearful and long was his dying groan, As his spirit to Hades fled, And ye prioress stood like a rooted stone When she saw that ye erle was dede: And her eyes grew glazed, and she uttered a yell Too horrid for mortal ear, And laughter rang -- 'twas the mirth of hell -- Through that pile so lone and drear. On ye self-same night ye murdress died, But she rotted not alone, For they laid her carcase side by side With Robin of Huntingdon. And they placed a fayre stone on ye mossy bed Of that brave but erring one, And many a pilgrim hath wept when he read What is written that stone upon. In Hone's Year Book, J. F. R. says of it in 1831, "The pedantry of the last stanza out one savors strongly of the monastery, but no monk would have called the outlaw's company 'a noble clan,' neither would any of the earlier minstrels have stolen ideas from the pagan mythology. It may have been first composed in the sixteenth century. "