In praise of Robin1 Hood2, his outlaws4, and their trade.
Drayton.
The baron5, with some of his retainers and all the foresters, halted at daybreak in Sherwood forest. The foresters quickly erected6 tents, and prepared an abundant breakfast of venison and ale.
“Now, Lord Fitzwater,” said the chief forester, “recognise your son-inlaw that was to have been, in the outlaw3 Robin Hood.”
“Ay, ay,” said the baron, “I have recognised you long ago.”
“And recognise your young friend Gamwell,” said the second, “in the outlaw Scarlet7.”
“And Little John, the page,” said the third, “in Little John the outlaw.”
“And Father Michael, of Rubygill Abbey,” said the friar, “in Friar Tuck, of Sherwood forest. Truly, I have a chapel8 here hard by, in the shape of a hollow tree, where I put up my prayers for travellers, and Little John holds the plate at the door, for good praying deserves good paying.”
“I am in fine company,” said the baron.
“In the very best of company,” said the friar, “in the high court of Nature, and in the midst of her own nobility. Is it not so? This goodly grove9 is our palace: the oak and the beech10 are its colonnade11 and its canopy12: the sun and the moon and the stars are its everlasting13 lamps: the grass, and the daisy, and the primrose14, and the violet, are its many-coloured floor of green, white, yellow, and blue; the may-flower, and the woodbine, and the eglantine, and the ivy15, are its decorations, its curtains, and its tapestry16: the lark17, and the thrush, and the linnet, and the nightingale, are its unhired minstrels and musicians. Robin Hood is king of the forest both by dignity of birth and by virtue18 of his standing19 army: to say nothing of the free choice of his people, which he has indeed, but I pass it by as an illegitimate basis of power. He holds his dominion20 over the forest, and its horned multitude of citizen-deer, and its swinish multitude or peasantry of wild boars, by right of conquest and force of arms. He levies21 contributions among them by the free consent of his archers22, their virtual representatives. If they should find a voice to complain that we are ‘tyrants and usurpers to kill and cook them up in their assigned and native dwelling-place,’ we should most convincingly admonish23 them, with point of arrow, that they have nothing to do with our laws but to obey them. Is it not written that the fat ribs24 of the herd25 shall be fed upon by the mighty26 in the land? And have not they withal my blessing27? my orthodox, canonical28, and archiepiscopal blessing? Do I not give thanks for them when they are well roasted and smoking under my nose? What title had William of Normandy to England, that Robin of Locksley has not to merry Sherwood? William fought for his claim. So does Robin. With whom, both? With any that would or will dispute it. William raised contributions. So does Robin. From whom, both? From all that they could or can make pay them. Why did any pay them to William? Why do any pay them to Robin? For the same reason to both: because they could not or cannot help it. They differ indeed, in this, that William took from the poor and gave to the rich, and Robin takes from the rich and gives to the poor: and therein is Robin illegitimate; though in all else he is true prince. Scarlet and John, are they not peers of the forest? lords temporal of Sherwood? And am not I lord spiritual? Am I not archbishop? Am I not pope? Do I not consecrate30 their banner and absolve31 their sins? Are not they state, and am not I church? Are not they state monarchical32, and am not I church militant33? Do I not excommunicate our enemies from venison and brawn34, and by ‘r Lady, when need calls, beat them down under my feet? The state levies tax, and the church levies tithe35. Even so do we. Mass, we take all at once. What then? It is tax by redemption and tithe by commutation. Your William and Richard can cut and come again, but our Robin deals with slippery subjects that come not twice to his exchequer36. What need we then to constitute a court, except a fool and a laureate? For the fool, his only use is to make false knaves37 merry by art, and we are true men and are merry by nature. For the laureate, his only office is to find virtues38 in those who have none, and to drink sack for his pains. We have quite virtue enough to need him not, and can drink our sack for ourselves.” “Well preached, friar,” said Robin Hood: “yet there is one thing wanting to constitute a court, and that is a queen. And now, lovely Matilda, look round upon these sylvan39 shades where we have so often roused the stag from his ferny covert40. The rising sun smiles upon us through the stems of that beechen knoll41. Shall I take your hand, Matilda, in the presence of this my court? Shall I crown you with our wild-wood coronal, and hail you queen of the forest? Will you be the queen Matilda of your own true king Robin?”
Matilda smiled assent42.
“Not Matilda,” said the friar: “the rules of our holy alliance require new birth. We have excepted in favour of Little John, because he is great John, and his name is a misnomer43. I sprinkle, not thy forehead with water, but thy lips with wine, and baptize thee MARIAN.”
“Here is a pretty conspiracy,” exclaimed the baron. “Why, you villanous friar, think you to nickname and marry my daughter before my face with impunity44?”
“Even so, bold baron,” said the friar; “we are strongest here. Say you, might overcomes right? I say no. There is no right but might: and to say that might overcomes right is to say that right overcomes itself: an absurdity45 most palpable. Your right was the stronger in Arlingford, and ours is the stronger in Sherwood. Your right was right as long as you could maintain it; so is ours. So is King Richard’s, with all deference46 be it spoken; and so is King Saladin’s; and their two mights are now committed in bloody47 fray48, and that which overcomes will be right, just as long as it lasts, and as far as it reaches. And now if any of you know any just impediment ——”
“Fire and fury,” said the baron.
“Fire and fury,” said the friar, “are modes of that might which constitutes right, and are just impediments to any thing against which they can be brought to bear. They are our good allies upon occasion, and would declare for us now if you should put them to the test.”
“Father,” said Matilda, “you know the terms of our compact: from the moment you restrained my liberty, you renounced50 your claim to all but compulsory51 obedience52. The friar argues well. Right ends with might. Thick walls, dreary53 galleries, and tapestried54 chambers55, were indifferent to me while I could leave them at pleasure, but have ever been hateful to me since they held me by force. May I never again have roof but the blue sky, nor canopy but the green leaves, nor barrier but the forest-bounds; with the foresters to my train, Little John to my page, Friar Tuck to my ghostly adviser56, and Robin Hood to my liege lord. I am no longer lady Matilda Fitzwater, of Arlingford Castle, but plain Maid Marian, of Sherwood Forest.”
“Long live Maid Marian!” re-echoed the foresters.
“Oh false girl!” said the baron, “do you renounce49 your name and parentage?”
“Not my parentage,” said Marian, “but my name indeed: do not all maids renounce it at the altar?”
“The altar!” said the baron: “grant me patience! what do you mean by the altar?”
“Pile green turf,” said the friar, “wreathe it with flowers, and crown it with fruit, and we will show the noble baron what we mean by the altar.”
The foresters did as the friar directed.
“Now, Little John,” said the friar, “on with the cloak of the abbot of Doubleflask. I appoint thee my clerk: thou art here duly elected in full mote57.”
“I wish you were all in full moat together,” said the baron, “and smooth wall on both sides.”
“Punnest thou?” said the friar. “A heinous58 anti-christian offence. Why anti-christian? Because anti-catholic? Why anti-catholic? Because anti-roman. Why anti-roman? Because Carthaginian. Is not pun from Punic? punica fides: the very quint-essential quiddity of bad faith: double-visaged: double-tongued. He that will make a pun will —— I say no more. Fie on it. Stand forth59, clerk. Who is the bride’s father?”
“There is no bride’s father,” said the baron. “I am the father of Matilda Fitzwater.”
“There is none such,” said the friar. “This is the fair Maid Marian. Will you make a virtue of necessity, or will you give laws to the flowing tide? Will you give her, or shall Robin take her? Will you be her true natural father, or shall I commute60 paternity? Stand forth, Scarlet.”
“Stand back, sirrah Scarlet,” said the baron. “My daughter shall have no father but me. Needs must when the devil drives.”
“No matter who drives,” said the friar, “so that, like a well-disposed subject, you yield cheerful obedience to those who can enforce it.”
“Mawd, sweet Mawd,” said the baron, “will you then forsake61 your poor old father in his distress62, with his castle in ashes, and his enemy in power?”
“Not so, father,” said Marian; “I will always be your true daughter: I will always love, and serve, and watch, and defend you: but neither will I forsake my plighted64 love, and my own liege lord, who was your choice before he was mine, for you made him my associate in infancy65; and that he continued to be mine when he ceased to be yours, does not in any way show remissness66 in my duties or falling off in my affections. And though I here plight63 my troth at the altar to Robin, in the presence of this holy priest and pious67 clerk, yet. . . . Father, when Richard returns from Palestine, he will restore you to your barony, and perhaps, for your sake, your daughter’s husband to the earldom of Huntingdon: should that never be, should it be the will of fate that we must live and die in the greenwood, I will live and die MAID MARIAN.” 4
4
And therefore is she called Maid Marian
Because she leads a spotless maiden68 life
And shall till Robin’s outlaw life have end.
— Old Play.
“A pretty resolution,” said the baron, “if Robin will let you keep it.”
“I have sworn it,” said Robin. “Should I expose her tenderness to the perils69 of maternity70, when life and death may hang on shifting at a moment’s notice from Sherwood to Barnsdale, and from Barnsdale to the sea-shore? And why should I banquet when my merry men starve? Chastity is our forest law, and even the friar has kept it since he has been here.”
“Truly so,” said the friar: “for temptation dwells with ease and luxury: but the hunter is Hippolytus, and the huntress is Dian. And now, dearly beloved ——”
The friar went through the ceremony with great unction, and Little John was most clerical in the intonation71 of his responses. After which, the friar sang, and Little John fiddled72, and the foresters danced, Robin with Marian, and Scarlet with the baron; and the venison smoked, and the ale frothed, and the wine sparkled, and the sun went down on their unwearied festivity: which they wound up with the following song, the friar leading and the foresters joining chorus:
Oh! bold Robin Hood is a forester good, As ever drew bow in the merry greenwood: At his bugle’s shrill73 singing the echoes are ringing, The wild deer are springing for many a rood: Its summons we follow, through brake, over hollow, The thrice-blown shrill summons of bold Robin Hood.
And what eye hath e’er seen such a sweet Maiden Queen, As Marian, the pride of the forester’s green? A sweet garden-flower, she blooms in the bower74, Where alone to this hour the wild rose has been: We hail her in duty the queen of all beauty: We will live, we will die, by our sweet Maiden queen.
And here’s a grey friar, good as heart can desire, To absolve all our sins as the case may require: Who with courage so stout75, lays his oak-plant about, And puts to the rout76 all the foes77 of his choir78: For we are his choristers, we merry foresters, Chorussing thus with our militant friar
And Scarlet cloth bring his good yew-bough and string, Prime minister is he of Robin our king: No mark is too narrow for little John’s arrow, That hits a cock sparrow a mile on the wing; Robin and Marion, Scarlet, and Little John, Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring.
Each a good liver, for well-feathered quiver Doth furnish brawn, venison, and fowl79 of the river: But the best game we dish up, it is a fat bishop29: When his angels we fish up, he proves a free giver: For a prelate so lowly has angels more holy, And should this world’s false angels to sinners deliver.
Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, Drink to them one by one, drink as ye sing: Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, Echo to echo through Sherwood shall fling: Robin and Marion, Scarlet and Little John, Long with their glory old Sherwood shall ring.
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收听单词发音
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1
robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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outlaw
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| n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
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outlaws
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| 歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯 | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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8
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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beech
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| n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的 | |
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colonnade
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| n.柱廊 | |
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canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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13
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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14
primrose
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| n.樱草，最佳部分， | |
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ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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20
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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admonish
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| v.训戒；警告；劝告 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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canonical
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| n.权威的；典型的 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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consecrate
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| v.使圣化，奉…为神圣；尊崇；奉献 | |
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absolve
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| v.赦免，解除（责任等） | |
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monarchical
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| adj. 国王的，帝王的，君主的，拥护君主制的 =monarchic | |
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militant
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| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
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brawn
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| n.体力 | |
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tithe
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| n.十分之一税；v.课什一税，缴什一税 | |
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exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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sylvan
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| adj.森林的 | |
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covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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misnomer
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| n.误称 | |
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44
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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45
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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46
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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47
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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48
fray
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| v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗 | |
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49
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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renounced
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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51
compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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53
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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tapestried
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| adj.饰挂绣帷的，织在绣帷上的v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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mote
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| n.微粒；斑点 | |
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58
heinous
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| adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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commute
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| vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通 | |
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forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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plighted
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| vt.保证，约定（plight的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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remissness
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| n.玩忽职守；马虎；怠慢；不小心 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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maternity
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| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
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71
intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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fiddled
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| v.伪造( fiddle的过去式和过去分词 )；篡改；骗取；修理或稍作改动 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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79
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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