Hereford and Sir Richard of the Lea, and how the Bishop had abided three days in Sherwood Forest.  At this, the Queen and the ladies about her laughed again and again, for they pictured to themselves the stout Bishop abiding in the forest and ranging the woods in lusty sport with Robin and his band.  Then, when they had told all that they could bring to mind, the Queen asked Allan to sing to her, for his fame as a minstrel had reached even to the court at London Town.  So straightway Allan took up his harp in his hand, and, without more asking, touched the strings lightly till they all rang sweetly, then he sang thus: 

 “Gentle river, gentle river,
     Bright thy crystal waters flow,
 Sliding where the aspens shiver,
     Gliding where the lilies blow,

 “Singing over pebbled shallows,
     Kissing blossoms bending low,
 Breaking ’neath the dipping swallows,
     Purpling where the breezes blow.

 “Floating on thy breast forever
     Down thy current I could glide;
 Grief and pain should reach me never
     On thy bright and gentle tide.

 “So my aching heart seeks thine, love,
     There to find its rest and peace,
 For, through loving, bliss is mine, love,
     And my many troubles cease_.”

Thus Allan sang, and as he sang all eyes dwelled upon him and not a sound broke the stillness, and even after he had done the silence hung for a short space.  So the time passed till the hour drew nigh for the holding of the great archery match in Finsbury Fields.

A gay sight were famous Finsbury Fields on that bright and sunny morning of lusty summertime.  Along the end of the meadow stood the booths for the different bands of archers, for the King’s yeomen were divided into companies of fourscore men, and each company had a captain over it; so on the bright greensward stood ten booths of striped canvas, a booth for each band of the royal archers, and at the peak of each fluttered a flag in the mellow air, and the flag was the color that belonged to the captain of each band.  From the center booth hung the yellow flag of Tepus, the famous bow bearer of the King; next to it, on one hand, was the blue flag of Gilbert of the White Hand, and on the other the blood-red pennant of stout young Clifton of Buckinghamshire.  The seven other archer captains were also men of great renown; among them were Egbert of Kent and William of Southampton; but those first named were most famous of all.  The noise of many voices in talk and laughter came from within the booths, and in and out ran the attendants like ants about an ant-hill.  Some bore ale and beer, and some bundles of bowstrings or sheaves of arrows.  On each side of the archery range were rows upon rows of seats reaching high aloft, and in the center of the north side was a raised dais for the King and Queen, shaded by canvas of gay colors, and hung about with streaming silken pennants of red