Background: Robin Hood is a heroic outlaw in English folklore who, according to legend, was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. Traditionally depicted as being dressed in Lincoln green, he is often portrayed as “robbing from the rich and giving to the poor” alongside his band of Merry Men. Robin Hood became a popular folk figure in the late medieval period and continues to be widely represented in literature, films, and television.

There are many speculations as to the identity of Robin Hood. According to some historians, Robin Hood was born in the time of Henry II, perhaps Robert Fitzooth, perhaps the Earl of Huntington. His exploits centered around Bamsdale and Sherwood. Legend has it that he died in 1247 at the age of 87 at Kirkley’s Nunnery in Yorkshire. Robin Hood ballads were extremely popular with the peasantry in England for several hundred years. Thirty-seven of ‘Child Ballads’ are Robin Hood ballads. This ballad is Child Ballad 132.

Summary: A pedlar meets Robin Hood and Little John and tells them what he has in his pack. Little John demands half of it. The pedlar refuses point blank to oblige Little John. They fight. The fight grows fierce. Finally it is the pedlar who wins. Robin laughs and says he has a man who could defeat him. Now it is the turn of Robin to fight with the pedlar. The pedlar wins again, and refuses to hold his hand, or tell his name, until they had told them theirs. They do, and he says his name is Gamble Gold, and he is fleeing because he killed a man in his father’s land. Robin identifies him as his mother’s sister’s son, and they go to the tavern and drink together.