Here are the notes from Penguin:Robin Hood and the Pedlar (FSJ II 156)
The text given here is very slightly amended from that collected by Lucy Broadwood from Mr Burstow of Horsham, Sussex. The song of Robin Hood's encounter with the battling pedlar was printed on broadsides by Such and Catnach in the nineteenth century, in much the same version as Mr. Burstow sang it. In earlier forms of this ballad (as in Child 128) the outlaw's redoubtable antagonist is not a pedlar but a young gentleman dressed in silk, with stockings of shining scarlet, named Young Gamwell. 'Gamwell' and 'Gamble Gold' are thought to be corruptions of Gamelyn, and the story may be a come-down fragment of the manuscript Tale of Gamelyn (c. 1340). Other versions are printed from Essex (FSJ II 155) and Yorkshire (FSJ V 94).
Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry:Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood, The [Child 132]
DESCRIPTION: Robin Hood and Little John meet a pedlar. Neither Robin nor John can out-wrestle the pedlar. They exchange names, and the pedlar (Gamble Gold, a murderer) proves to be Robin's cousin. They celebrate the reunion in a tavern
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1775
KEYWORDS: Robinhood fight return robbery family outlaw
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,North),Scotland(Aber)) US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Child 132, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text)
Bronson 132, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (14 versions+ 2 in addenda)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 457-461, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 songster text plus extensive notes)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 217-218, "Bold Robing Hood" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 67-69, "Bold Robin Hood and the Pedlar" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 67-69, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #7}
Leach, pp. 383-385, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text)
Niles 46, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 88, "Robin Hood and the Pedlar" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5, emended}
DT 132, RHPEDLAR* RHDPDLR2
Roud #333
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jock the Leg and the Merry Merchant" [Child 282] (plot)
cf. "Robin Hood Newly Revived" [Child 128] (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Bold Peddler
Notes: For background on the Robin Hood legend, see the notes on "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117].
Fully half the Robin Hood ballads in the Child collection (numbers (121 -- the earliest and most basic example of the type), 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 130, 131, 132, (133), (134), (135), (136), (137), (150)) share all or part of the theme of a stranger meeting and defeating Robin, and being invited to join his band. Most of these are late, but it makes one wonder if Robin ever won a battle.
Child considered this a variation of "Robin Hood Newly Revived," but Bronson argues that this is not so. - RBW
File: C132Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index InstructionsThe Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.