“’Why growest thou so cold, my daughter? 
     Why growest thou so cold and white,
          Daughter, my daughter?’
 Oh, never a word the daughter said,
 But she sat all straight with a drooping head,
 For her heart was stilled and her face was dead: 
     And the shrill wind sighed a straining_.”

All listened in silence; and when Allan a Dale had done King Richard heaved a sigh.  “By the breath of my body, Allan,” quoth he, “thou hast such a wondrous sweet voice that it strangely moves my heart.  But what doleful ditty is this for the lips of a stout yeoman?  I would rather hear thee sing a song of love and battle than a sad thing like that.  Moreover, I understand it not; what meanest thou by the words?”

“I know not, Your Majesty,” said Allan, shaking his head, “for ofttimes I sing that which I do not clearly understand mine own self.”

“Well, well,” quoth the King, “let it pass; only I tell thee this, Allan, thou shouldst turn thy songs to such matters as I spoke of, to wit, love or war; for in sooth thou hast a sweeter voice than Blondell, and methought he was the best minstrel that ever I heard.”

But now one came forward and said that the feast was ready; so Robin Hood brought King Richard and those with him to where it lay all spread out on fair white linen cloths which lay upon the soft green grass.  Then King Richard sat him down and feasted and drank, and when he was done he swore roundly that he had never sat at such a lusty repast in all his life before.

That night he lay in Sherwood Forest upon a bed of sweet green leaves, and early the next morning he set forth from the woodlands for Nottingham Town, Robin Hood and all of his band going with him.  You may guess what a stir there was in the good town when all these famous outlaws came marching into the streets.  As for the Sheriff, he knew not what to say nor where to look when he saw Robin Hood in such high favor with the King, while all his heart was filled with gall because of the vexation that lay upon him.

The next day the King took leave of Nottingham Town; so Robin Hood and Little John and Will Scarlet and Allan a Dale shook hands with all the rest of the band, kissing the cheeks of each man, and swearing that they would often come to Sherwood and see them.  Then each mounted his horse and rode away in the train of the King.

Epilogue

THUS END the Merry Adventures of Robin Hood; for, in spite of his promise, it was many a year ere he saw Sherwood again.

After a year or two at court Little John came back to Nottinghamshire, where he lived in an orderly way, though within sight of Sherwood, and where he achieved great fame as the champion of all England with the quarterstaff.  Will Scarlet after a time came back to his own home, whence he had been driven by his unlucky killing of his father’s steward.  The rest of the band did their duty as royal rangers right well.  But Robin Hood and Allan a Dale did not come again to Sherwood so quickly, for thus it was: