Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor, and Marriage
Encyclopedia
"Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor, and Marriage" is Child ballad 149. It recounts his adventures hunting and a romance with Clorinda, the queen of the shepherdess, a heroine who did not prove able to displace Maid Marian
as his sweet heart.
In his introduction to the ballad Child gives its first printing as 1716 in Dryden's Miscellany and remarks on the freedom with which it treats tradition and indeed common sense. A feature of interest is that the author is apparently unaware of the "Earl of Huntingdon" tradition.
, Clim of the Clough, and William a Cloudsley, other famous outlaws of the time. Robin Hood went with his parents to his uncle's Gamwel Hall. Little John
amused them there, but Robin Hood is adopted by his uncle the squire. At some later stage (apparently, the continuity isn't clear) Robin Hood set out into Sherwood with Little John. He met Clorinda, the queen of the shepherdess, also out to hunt a deer. She shot one, impressing him, and he invited her to feast with him. After the meal, he asked her to marry him, and she agreed. On the way, eight yeomen tried to steal their deer, five of them are killed the rest spared on Little John's intercession. The marriage was celebrated. The overall tone, despite the violent episode, is relaxed and comic.
Maid Marian
Maid Marian is the wife of the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood. Stemming from another, older tradition, she became associated with Robin Hood only in the 16th century.-History:The earliest medieval Robin Hood stories gave him no female companion...
as his sweet heart.
In his introduction to the ballad Child gives its first printing as 1716 in Dryden's Miscellany and remarks on the freedom with which it treats tradition and indeed common sense. A feature of interest is that the author is apparently unaware of the "Earl of Huntingdon" tradition.
Synopsis
Robin Hood's father is described as a forester, out-shooting Adam BellAdam Bell
Adam Bell was a legendary English outlaw.He and his companions William of Cloudsley and Clym of the Clough lived in Inglewood Forest near Carlisle and were figures similar to Robin Hood...
, Clim of the Clough, and William a Cloudsley, other famous outlaws of the time. Robin Hood went with his parents to his uncle's Gamwel Hall. Little John
Little John
Little John was a legendary fellow outlaw of Robin Hood, and was said to be Robin's chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men.-Folklore:He appears in the earliest recorded Robin Hood ballads and stories...
amused them there, but Robin Hood is adopted by his uncle the squire. At some later stage (apparently, the continuity isn't clear) Robin Hood set out into Sherwood with Little John. He met Clorinda, the queen of the shepherdess, also out to hunt a deer. She shot one, impressing him, and he invited her to feast with him. After the meal, he asked her to marry him, and she agreed. On the way, eight yeomen tried to steal their deer, five of them are killed the rest spared on Little John's intercession. The marriage was celebrated. The overall tone, despite the violent episode, is relaxed and comic.