Bill D wrote:

Just in case anyone would like to hear all 456 verses...

A Gest

an hour and 10 minutes...

You're welcome... ;>)

It is nice to confirm that my 90 minute estimate for actual performance time is about right. :-)

Two warnings and a reminder:

First, that is not the Gest. It's a modernization. (No, I didn't listen to the whole thing. It took me less than a couplet to know that it was a modernization. Admittedly the notes say as much, but I didn't have to read them.) Of course, I edited the Gest, so I'm obsessive on that point. :-) I want the Middle English. :-) Or at least my modernization, since mine is better. :-p

Second, there is no tune for the Gest. In all likelihood, it used multiple tunes to prevent absolute boredom -- or perhaps no tune at all, being just a recitation. But if it used one tune, and that tune is preserved, and it's a Robin Hood tune (three very weak assumptions), the best bet for the tune is "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar" (which is the tune I used for my length estimate).

Third, the Gest is not a ballad; it's a romance. There is no sharp dividing line, as I've said many times here, but you can tell the extremes, and the Gest is on the romance side.

Oh, and I strongly suggest that there are 457 stanzas, not 456. There is one corrupted stanza that cannot be fixed except by breaking it up into two. Sadly, there are also a few lines missing.