Robin Hood and the Butcher [Child 122]

DESCRIPTION: Robin goes to Nottingham in the guise of a young butcher who sells cheap and spends freely. The sheriff returns with him to the forest for bargain-priced cattle. He is shown deer, then captured and relieved of his gold. He is released for his wife's sake.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1662 (broadside Bodleian Wood 401(19))
KEYWORDS: Robinhood trick commerce robbery
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Child 122, "Robin Hood and the Butcher" (2 texts)
Bronson 122, comments only
Ritson-RobinHood, pp. 122-126, "Robin Hood and the Butcher" (1 text)
Hales/Furnival-BishopPercysFolioManuscript, volume I, pp. 19-25, "Robin Hood and the Butcher" (1 text)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 11, pp. 23-24, "Robin Hood and the Butcher" (1 text, which which does not seem to have had a tune and which appears to start in the middle and has other defects)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 119, "Robin Hood and the Butcher" (1 text)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, RZN4, "Come all you brave gallants & listen a while"
ADDITIONAL: Stephen Knight, editor (with a manuscript description by Hilton Kelliher), _Robin Hood: The Forresters Manuscript_ (British Library Additional MS 71158), D. S. Brewer, 1998, pp. 45-51, "Robin Hood and the Butcher" (1 text, with substantial differences from both the Percy and garland versions)
R. B. Dobson and J. Taylor, _Rymes of Robyn Hood: An Introduction to the English Outlaw_, University of Pittsburg Press, 1976, pp. 152-157, "Robin Hood and the Butcher" (2 texts, one from the Percy Folio and one from a broadside)
MANUSCRIPT: {MSPercyFolio}, The Percy Folio, London, British Library MS. Additional 27879, page 7
MANUSCRIPT: {MSForresters}, London, British Library MS. Additional 71158, the "Foresters Manuscript," item 8
Roud #3980
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Wood 401(19), "Robin Hood and the butcher," F. Grove (London), 1623-1661; also Douce Ballads 3(114a), unknown, n. d.; Douce Ballads 3(115a), unknown, n.d.
NOTES [224 words]: For background on the Robin Hood legend, see the notes on "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117]. This particular song is very close in plot to "Robin Hood and the Potter" [Child 121], and the Percy folio version of the "Butcher" also shares some lyrics. Most scholars (e.g.Dobson/Taylor, pp. 150-151) think that the "Butcher" is a rewrite of the "Potter." But a number of the Percy folio pieces show some signs of editing; it is perhaps just possible that the "Butcher" is an independent song which at some stage was conflated with the "Potter."
Rollins, p. 200, lists two pieces with this title: #2312, "Robin Hood and the butcher," registered July 2, 1657 by Nath. Ekins, and "Robin Hood & the butcher," registered July 16, 1657 by Francis Grove. Rollins attributes it to Thomas Grove. It is interesting to note that the Stationer's Company let two pieces with the same title be registered just two weeks apart; it is also interesting that the two were registered probably just a few years after the Percy Folio was written.
The Grove entry appears to be the same as STC p. 474, #20591, "Robin Hood and the butcher," printed by Grove, a copy of which is in the Bodleian. This is attributed to "T. R."; the STC does not suggest who this might be, but the Bodleian web site conjectures T. Robins. The STC does not list anything by a "T. Robins." - RBW
Bibliography

Dobson/Taylor: R. B. Dobson and J. Taylor, Rymes of Robyn Hood: An Introduction to the English Outlaw, University of Pittsburg Press, 1976
Rollins: Hyder E. Rollins, An Analytical Index to the Ballad-Entries (1557-1709) In the Register of the Company of Stationers of London, 1924 (I use the 1967 Tradition Press reprint with a new Foreword by Leslie Shepard)
STC: A. W. Pollard, G. R. Redgrave, et al, A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland & Ireland And of English Books Printed Abroad 1475-1640, The Bibliographical Society [of London], 1963

Last updated in version 5.3
File: C122

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