> A.L. Lloyd > Songs > Robin Hood and the Tanner

Robin Hood and the Tanner

[ Roud 332 ; Master title: Robin Hood and the Tanner ; Child 126 ; Ballad Index C126 ; VWML CJS2/9/683 , GG/1/3/79 ; Bodleian Roud 332 ; trad.]

Maud Karpeles: The Crystal Spring Frank Purslow: The Wanton Seed Cecil J. Sharp: One Hundred English Folksongs

A.L. Lloyd sang Robin Hood and the Tanner on his and Ewan MacColl’s 1956 anthology on the Riverside Label The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Volume I, All of his tracks from this series were reissued in 2011 on the Fellside album Bramble Briars and Beams of the Sun. Kenneth S. Goldstein noted:

The earliest reference to the Robin Hood ballads occurs in Piers Plowman (1377) in which Sloth says that he knows “rymes of Robyn Hood…” Frequent mention is made in the centuries following, all of which tend to prove the abundance of ballads concerning Robin Hood, but none of which conclusively identified Robin as an historical figure. The argument concerning his status as a true-life hero-outlaw, or a mythical figure, is very much alive today, and reference for this point should be made to the writings of William E. Simeone in the United States and to P. Valentine Harris and J.W. Walker in England.

Child prints more than 30 Robin Hood ballads, allotting a position of importance to them far out of proportion to their oral currency. Most of the Child texts are from chapbooks, broadsides, and garlands, and it is highly unlikely that many of these ever existed in an oral tradition, for their language and style are far from popular. Only five of these ballads have been collected from tradition in England since Child, and fewer than ten in the United States; some two or three have been collected in Scotland. It should be noted that the few Robin Hood ballads which have been collected from tradition are only slightly removed from chapbook and broadside literary tradition.

Robin Hood and the Tanner is one of several Robin Hood ballads in which our hero is defeated in battle with an adversary whom he later befriends. One is forced to admire a hero who is human enough to suffer defeat, especially when the position he assumes is not an honourable one and the real hero of the ballad is his adversary.

Lloyd’s version, collected by Cecil Sharp in 1904 from Henry Larcombe of Haselbury-Plucknett, Somerset [VWML CJS2/9/683] , is a considerably shortened telling of the ballad. No mention is made of Robin Hood’s offer to have Bold Arthur join his band, or to Arthur’s kinship to Little John. What is left, however, is an interesting song-narrative with a genuine ring of folk-created balladry.

See Child (126), Volume III, p. 137; Coffin, pp. 106-107; Dean-Smith, p. 101.

Roy Harris sang Robin Hood and the Tanner on his 1972 Topic album, The Bitter and the Sweet. This track was also included in the same year on the Topic Sampler No. 8, English Garland. A.L. Lloyd noted on Harris’ album:

Blind Henry Larcombe, 82 years old, sang this version to Cecil Sharp on two successive days in September 1903, and each time, and verse by verse he varied the melody gracefully. Lacking a recording machine, and unable to catch the flying improvisations immediately by ear, Sharp got the patient old singer to repeat the song over and again for nearly an hour at a time. The variations Sharp was able to display provide an object lesson for young singers in the art of how to keep a song ever fresh. The tune, which is attached to at least ten separate Robin Hood ballads, is a variant of one that appeared under the title of Arthur a Bland in an anonymous ballad opera, The Jovial Crew, in 1731. Did it go from tradition to stage or vice versa? Arthur a Bland is, in fact, the full name of the “bold Arthur” of our present ballad.

Steve Jordan sang Robin Hood and the Tanner in 1974 on the Forest Tracks album Folk Songs From Hampshire of songs collected in 1905-09 by Dr. George B. Gardiner. John Edgar Mann noted:

Best known of the Robin Hood ballads. In The Wanton Seed Purslow has used a version collected from William Randall al Hursley in June 1905 [VWML GG/1/3/79] , in addition to a verse plus amendments to the text from James Buckland (Micheldever, September 1908). Robin and Little John, it will be noted, are a long way from Sherwood Forest.

Bob Lewis sang Robin Hood and the Tanner at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival in Collessie, Fife, in May 2009. This recording was published a year later on Bob Lewis’ CD Drive Sorrows Away and on the festival’s anthology There’s Bound to Be a Row (Old Songs & Bothy Ballads Vol. 6). The liner notes commented:

Robin Hood meets a stranger, they fight, the stranger wins and is praised for his prowess and asked to join the outlaw band. Of some 35 different Robin Hood ballads in Francis J Child’s collection The English and Scottish Popular Ballads around 12 have survived in 20^Th century living tradition.

Robin Hood and the Tanner (Child 126) first appeared in print in a Garland of 1663 and it was included in Ritson’s Robin Hood of 1795. Versions have been collected in the south of England and in Virginia. This version comes from the George Gardiner collection from two singers in Hampshire in 1908. It was published in The Wanton Seed, EFDSS (1968). Bob was given the words by a singer at the Wadebridge Folk Club in the 1970s.

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings Robin Hood and the Tanner

Bold Arthur went forth one summer morning
To view the merry green wood,
For to hunt for the deer that run here and there,
And there he espied Robin Hood.
Ay, and there he espied Robin Hood.

“What fellow art thou?“ says bold Robin Hood,
“And what is thy business here?
For now to be brief thou looks like a thief,
And come for to steal the king’s deer.“

“No, I am the keeper of this parish,
The king he hath put me in trust.
And therefore I pray thee to get on thy way,
Or else to upstand you I must.“

“’Tis you must have more partakers in store,
“Before you upstand me indeed.
For I have a staff and he’s made of ground graffe,
And I’ll warrant he’ll do my deed.“

“And I have another,“ says bold Robin Hood,
“He’s made of an oaken tree,
He’s eight foot and a half and he’d knock down a calf,
And why shouldn’t he knock down thee?“

Then at it they went, for bang and for bang,
The space of two hours or more.
Every blow they swing, they make the grove ring,
And they play their game so sure, sure.

Then bold Robin Hood drew his bugle horn,
And blew it both loud and shrill,
And direct thereupon he espied Little John
Come a-running down the hill.

“Oh, what is the matter?“ then said Little John,
“You’re not doing well,“ he cried.
“Oh,“ says bold Robin Hood, “here’s a tanner so good,
And I’ll warrant he’s tanned my hide.“

“If he’s such a tanner,“ then says Little John,
“A tanner that tans so true,
We’ll make no doubt but we’ll have a fresh bout,
And see if he’ll tan my hide too.“

“That thing shall not be,“ says bold Robin Hood,
“For he is a hero so bold,
For he has best played and he’s mastered his trade,
And by no man shall he be controlled.“

Bob Lewis sing Robin Hood and the Tanner

It’s of a bold tanner in fair Devonshire,
His name it was Arthur O Brann;
There wasn’t a man in all Devonshire,
Could make this bold Arthur to stand,
Ay, could make this bold Arthur to stand.

Bold Arthur walked out on a fine summer’s morn,
For to view the merry green wood;
In search of a deer that runs here and there,
And there he spied bold Robin Hood,
Ay, and there he spied bold Robin Hood.

“Good morning bold fellow,” says bold Robin Hood,
“How camest thou here?”
“I will tell thee in brief thou looks like some thief,
Thou art come for to steal the king’s deer,
Ay, thou art come for to steal the king’s deer.”

“I will have a fat doe afore I do go,
Although it may cause me a fall;
For I have a staff made out of green graff,
And I think he would do for you all,
Ay, and I think he would do for you all.”

“And I have another,” then says Robin Hood,
“Made out of the bonny oak tree;
Three feet and a half he would knock down a calf,
And I think he would knock down thee,
Ay, and I think he would knock down thee.”

“Let’s measure our sticks,” then says Robin Hood,
“Before we commence our fray;
And if mine be half a foot longer than thine,
Well that shall be counted fair play,
Ay, and that shall be counted fair play.”

They measures their sticks and at it they went,
For the space of an hour or more;
And every blow made the groves for to ring,
They played their game so sure,
Ay, they played their game so sure.

“Hold on, hold on,” then cried Robin Hood,
“I pray that your courage to fall;
Before that we break or our bones for to smash,
And gain no coin at all,
Ay, and gain no coin at all.”

Bold Robin pulled out his long bugle horn,
He blowed it so loud and so shrill;
And then thereupon he spied Little John,
Come a-trippling down over the hill,
Ay, come trippling down over the hill.

“Oh what is the matter,” then says Little John,
“Bold Robin, I pray me tell;
There is something amiss, I see that there is,
For I see thee doesn’t look well,
Ay, I see that thee doesn’t look well.”

“Oh here I do stand with my staff in my hand,
Bold Tanner he stands by my side;
He’s a bonny brisk man, just fit for our gang,
And so well he has tanned my hide,
Ay, and so well he has tanned my hide.

“Oh if he’s a tanner,” then says Little John,
“The tanner that tans so true;
There’s not the least doubt he’ll have one more bout,
And so well he shall tan my hide too,
Ay, and so well he shall tan my hide too.”

“Oh no, oh no,” then says Robin Hood,
“For he is a hero so bold;
He’s a bonny brisk blade and master of his trade,
And by no man he won’t be controlled,
Ay, and by no man he won’t be controlled.”