ROBIN.

Come, Shadow-of-a-Leaf,

I pray thee, do not jest.

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF.

I do not jest.

I am vaunt-courier to a silken page,

A sweet slim page in Lincoln green who comes,
Wood-knife on hip, and wild rose in his face,
With golden news of Marian. Oh, his news
Is one crammed honey-comb, swelling with sweetness
In twenty thousand cells; but delicate!
So send thy man aside.

ROBIN.

Go, Little John.

[LITTLE JOHN goes into the cave.]

Well, Shadow-of-a-Leaf, where is he?

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF.

At this moment

His hair is tangled in a rose-bush: hark,

He swears like a young leopard! Nay, he is free.
Come, master page, here is that thief of love,
Give him your message. I'll to Little John.

[Exit into the cave. Enter MARIAN, as a page in
Lincoln green, her face muffled in a hood.]

ROBIN.

Good even, master page, what is thy news
Of Lady Marian?

[She stands silent.]

Answer me quickly, come,

Hide not thy face!

[She still stands muffled and silent.]

Come, boy, the fool is chartered,

Not thou; and I'll break off this hazel switch

And lace thee till thou tingle, top to toe.

I'll . . .

MARIAN (unmuffling).

Robin!

ROBIN (catches her in his arms with a cry).

O, you seemed

Ten thousand miles away. This is not moonlight,
And I am not Endymion. Could I dream
My Dian would come shining through the fern
Before the sunset. Even that rose your face
You muffled in its own green leaves.

MARIAN.

But you

Were hidden in the heart of Sherwood, Robin,
Hidden behind a million mighty boughs,

And yet I found you.

ROBIN.

Angels bring good news

With eyes like yours, pure as the violet wells

That only mirror heaven, and are not dimmed
Except by clouds that drift through heaven and catch.
God's glory in the sunset and the dawn.

MARIAN.

And this is to be outlawed? Or is't we

That have outlawed the world? O, yet I fear,

Sweetheart, sweetheart, Prince John will hunt us down. O, Robin, must you fight against him still?

VOL. CXCI.-NO. MCLVIII.

20

ROBIN (as he speaks SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF steals out
and listens).

Sherwood is wide, and forests have slain kings.
We came, we conquered with the Conqueror.
We gave ourselves broad lands, and when our king
Desired a wider hunting-ground we set

Hundreds of Saxon homes a-blaze and tossed
Women and children back into the fire

If they but wrung their hands against our will.
And so we made our forest, and its leaves
Were pitiful, more pitiful than man.

They gave our homeless victims the same refuge
And happy hiding-place they give the birds
And foxes. Then we made our forest laws,
And he that dared to hunt, even for food,

Even on the ground where we had burned his hut,
The ground we had drenched with his own kindred's blood,
Poor foolish churl, why, we put out his eyes

With red-hot irons, cut off both his hands,

Tortured him with such horrors that . . . Christ God,
How can I help but fight against it all?

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF.

Ah, gossips, if the Conqueror had but burned
Everything with four walls, hut, castle, palace,
And turned the whole wide world into a forest,
Drenched us with may, we might be happy then!
With sweet blue wood-smoke curling thro' the boughs,
And just a pigeon's flap to break the silence,

And ferns, of course, there's much to make men happy.
Well, well, the forest conquers at the last!

I saw a thistle in the castle courtyard,

A purple thistle breaking thro' the pavement,

Yesterday; and it's wonderful how soon

Some creepers pick these old grey walls to pieces.

These nunneries and these monasteries now,

They don't spring up like flowers, so I suppose
Old mother Nature wins the race at last.

ALLAN-A-DALE.

[Singing in the cave.]

Outlawed! Then hills and woods and streams
Are outlawed too!

Proud world, from our immortal dreams

We banish you!

ROBIN to MARIAN.

Look how the first white star begins to tremble
Like a big blossom in that sycamore.

Now you shall hear our forest ritual.

Go, Little John! Summon the lads together.

JOHN

[The outlaws come out of the cave. LITTLE
blows a bugle and others come in from the
forest.]

Friar, read us the rules.

FRIAR TUCK.

First, shall no man

Presume to call our Robin Hood, or any,
By name of Earl, lord, baron, knight, or squire;
But by their names as men and comrades all.
Second, that Lady Marian while she shares
Our outlaw life in Sherwood shall be called
Maid Marian only. Thirdly, we that follow
Robin, shall never in thought or word or deed
Do harm to the defenceless. Whomsoe'er
Ye meet in Sherwood ye shall bring to dine
With Robin, saving carriers, posts, and folk
That ride with food to serve the market towns,
Or any, indeed, that serve their fellow-men.
Next, ye shall never do the poor man wrong
Nor spare a pitiless usurer. Ye shall take
The baron's gold to stock the widow's cupboard,
The naked ye shall clothe, the hungry feed,
And lastly shall defend with all your power
All that are trampled under by the world,
The old, the sick, and all men in distress.

ROBIN.

So, if it be no dream, we shall at last
Hasten the kingdom of God's will on earth.
There shall be no more talk of rich and poor,
Norman and Saxon. We shall be one people,
One family, clustering all with happy hands
And faces round that glowing hearth, the sun.
Now let the bugle sound a golden challenge
To the great world. Greenleaf, a forest call!

[REYNOLD GREENLEAF blows a resounding call.] Now let the guards be set; and then, to sleep! To-morrow there'll be work enough for all.

The hut for Jenny and Maid Marian!

Come, you shall see how what we lack in halls
We find in bowers. Look how from every branch
Such tapestries as kings could never buy

Wave in the star-light. You'll be waked at dawn
By feathered choirs whose notes were taught in heaven.

MUCH.

Come, Jenny, come, we must prepare the hut
For Mistress Marian. Here's a bundle of ferns!

[They go into the hut. The light is growing dimmer
and richer.]

LITTLE JOHN.

And here's a red cramoisy cloak a baron
Dropt, as he fled one night from Robin Hood;
And here's a green, and here's a midnight blue,
All soft as down. But wait, I'll get you more.

[Two of the outlaws appear at the door with deer-
skins. SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF stands behind them
with a great bunch of flowers and ferns.]

FIRST OUTLAW.

Here's fawn-skins, milder than a maiden's cheek.

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF.

O, you should talk in rhyme! The world should sing
Just for this once in tune, if Love be king!

SECOND OUTLAW.

Here's deer-skins, for a carpet, smooth and meek!

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF.

I knew you would! Ha! ha! Now look at what I bring! [He throws flowers, ferns, and herbs into the hut, spray by spray, speaking in a kind of ecstasy.]

Here's lavender, and love, and sweet wild thyme,
And dreams, and blue-bells that the fairies chime!
Here's meadow-sweet, and moon-light, bound in posies,
With raggéd-robin, traveller's joy, and roses;

And here just three leaves from a weeping willow,
And here that's best, deep poppies for your pillow,