GUEST Q, Here's the ballad -- "Robin Hood and Little John" No. 125. According to the link, "ground oak" means an oak sapling. In the ballad, Robin has just met Little John, and the two are testing their 'manliness' (I remember this hilarious scene in the Mel Brooks' movie!):

" 'Thou talkst like a coward,' the stranger reply'd;
'Well armd with a long bow, you stand,
To shoot at my breast, while I, I protest,
Have nought but a staff in my hand.'

'The name of a coward,' quoth Robin, 'I scorn,
Wherefore my long bow I'll lay by;
And now, for thy sake, a staff I will take,
The truth of thy manhood to try.'

Then Robin Hood stept to a thicket of trees,
And chose him a staff of ground-oak;
Now this being done, away he did run
To the stranger, and merrily spoke:

Lo! see my staff, it is lusty and tough,
Now here on the bridge we will play;
Whoever falls in, the other shall win
The battel, and so we'll away...

... The stranger gave Robin a crack on the crown,
Which caused the blood to appear;
Then Robin, enrag'd, more fiercely engag'd,
And followd his blows more severe.

So thick and fast did he lay it on him,
With a passionate fury and ire,
At every stroke, he made him to smoke,
As if he had been all on fire..."


Ah, the legendary "fire-power" of oak-wood! Thor must've been proud!

Speaking of Thor, I found more information about St. Boniface and the Oak of Donar at this link. Certainly no fool, the missionary saw to it that the wood from this great oak was used to build an oratory dedicated to St. Peter. No doubt the construction material itself was the main attraction for the site's new congregation!

" ... Boniface sought to fell a tree of great size, at Geismar, and called, in the ancient language of the region, the oak of Thor.

The man of God was surrounded by the servants of God. When he would cut down the tree, behold a great throng of pagans who were there cursed him bitterly among themselves because he was the enemy of their gods. And when he had cut into the trunk a little way, a breeze sent by God stirred overhead, and suddenly the branchtop of the tree was broken off, and the oak in all its huge bulk fell to the ground. And it was broken into four huge sections without any effort of the brethren who stood by. When the pagans who had cursed did see this, they left off cursing and, believing, blessed God. Then the most holy priest took counsel with the brethren: and he built from the wood of the tree an oratory, and dedicated it to the holy apostle Peter."

Interestingly enough, this site about St. Boniface claims that he was educated partly at the abbey school of Exeter, the community where the first Robin Hood plays were staged! What a coincidence!

daylia