Subject: Penguin: Robin Hood And The Pedlar From: Alan of Australia Date: 02 Jul 00 - 02:16 AM G'day, From the Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs, Ed Pellow's rendition of the tune of Robin Hood And The Pedlar (Child #132) can be found here.
ROBIN HOOD AND THE PEDLAR
It's of a pedlar, pedlar bold
By chance he met two troublesome men,
'O pedlar, pedlar, what's in thy pack?
'If you've several suits of the gay green cloth,
'Oh no, oh no,' says the pedlar bold,
Then the pedlar he pulled off his pack,
Then Little John he drew his sword,
Then Robin Hood he was standing by,
'Go you try, master,' says Little John,
Then Robin Hood he drew his sword,
'Oh pedlar, pedlar, what is thy name?
'The one of us is bold Robin Hood,
'I'm Gamble Gold of the gay green woods,
'If you're Gamble Gold of the gay green woods,
They sheathed their swords with friendly words,
Sung by Mr Verrall, Horsham, Sussex (R.V.W. 1906)
Previous song: The Red Herring.
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Subject: RE: Penguin: Robin Hood And The Pedlar From: Joe Offer Date: 21 Jan 05 - 03:32 AM Here are the notes from Penguin:
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 tavernAUTHOR: 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: C132 Go to the Ballad Search form The Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. |
Subject: RE: Penguin: Robin Hood And The Pedlar From: Steve Parkes Date: 21 Jan 05 - 04:45 AM And I remember we found a reference to "Gamwell Bold", but it was thirty-odd years back, and I've no idea where. There are plenty of GGs on the internet, but no GBs. It seems Gamwell or Gamewell was the real nae of Will Scarlet. Steve |
Subject: RE: Penguin: Robin Hood And The Pedlar From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts Date: 21 Jan 05 - 09:15 PM Gamwell was the name of a noble family in the Nottinghamshire area, possibly the Earls of Mansfield. The older RH stories say that RH was the son of a daughter of that family and was raised in Warwickshire (at Locksley, perhaps). He spent one Christmas in Nottinghamshire with his mother's family, where he defeated numbers of blokes his own age in demonstartaions of skill, sport etc, until he came across a page-boy called Little John, a giantic youth. Eventually, and after a hard time, RH beat LJ as well. RH's uncle Gamwell asked him what reward he would like and RH claimed LJ as a gift. Later, when RH & LJ were outlawing about the forest, they ran across the famous pedlar. The pedlar was, in fact, a bloke called Gamwell, a cousin of RH, who had been exiled from England 'for killing a man on my father's land' (exiled instead of hanged because he was of Gamwell blood, no doubt). Returning to Britain illegally, he heard that cousin RH had set up as an outlaw and went to look for him. Once he and RH had established their relationship he was permitted to join the gang. RH, in the older tales, did not wear Lincoln Green, but scarlet. The rest of the gang wore green. Because of his family relationship with RH, Gamwell the 'pedlar' was also permitted to wear scarlet, and became known as 'Will Scarlet'. |
Subject: RE: Penguin: Robin Hood And The Pedlar From: Lighter Date: 21 Jan 05 - 09:42 PM Steeleye did a wonderful rock adaptation of this song on "All Round My Hat" (1977). But you all knew that. |
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