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 tavern
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1775 (broadside in the British Library)
KEYWORDS: Robinhood fight return robbery family outlaw
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,North),Scotland(Aber)) US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Child 132, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text)
Bronson 132, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (14 versions+ 2 in addenda)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 132, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (5 versions: #3, #6, #8, #11, #12)
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "BOLD PEDLAR AND ROBIN HOOD, THE"
Broadwood-EnglishTraditionalSongsAndCarols, pp. 4-5, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dixon-AncientPoemsBalladsSongsOfThePeasantryOfEngland, Ballad #4, pp. 71-74,242, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text)
Bell-Combined-EarlyBallads-CustomsBalladsSongsPeasantryEngland, pp. 279-281, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text)
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, #41, "Robin Wood and the Pedlar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-FolkSongsCollectedBy-Ralph-VaughanWilliams, #21, "Robin Hood and the Pedlar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 457-461, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 songster text plus extensive notes)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, pp. 217-218, "Bold Robing Hood" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 67-69, "Bold Robin Hood and the Pedlar" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland3, pp. 101-106, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (2 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #3, #14}
Wells-TheBalladTree, pp. 37-38, "Robin Hood and the Peddlar" (1 text, 1 tune) {Same indormant, although not the same session, as Bronson #8}
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 67-69, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #7}
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 6, "Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text, called "Pedlar Bold" by the singer, 1 tune) {Bronson's #12}
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 383-385, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text)
Niles-BalladBookOfJohnJacobNiles 46, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (1 text, 1 tune)
VaughanWilliams/Lloyd-PenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs, p. 88, "Robin Hood and the Pedlar" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5, emended}
DT 132, RHPEDLAR* RHDPDLR2
Roud #333
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(381), "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(380), Harding B 11(382), "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood"
Murray, Mu23-y4:007, "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838
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 [134 words]: 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" [Child 128], but Bronson argues that this is not so. Stephen Knight, however, points to what he considered an intermediate version in Child's additions and corrections; he thinks this text an orally shorted version of "Robin Hood Newly Revived." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: C132

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