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Then up and down and back and forth they trod, the blows falling
so thick and fast that, at a distance, one would have thought that half
a score of men were fighting. Thus they fought for nigh a half an hour,
until the ground was all plowed up with the digging of their heels,
and their breathing grew labored like the ox in the furrow.
But Little John suffered the most, for he had become unused to such
stiff labor, and his joints were not as supple as they had been
before he went to dwell with the Sheriff.
All this time Robin Hood lay beneath the bush, rejoicing at such
a comely bout of quarterstaff. "By my faith!" quoth he to himself,
"never had I thought to see Little John so evenly matched in all my life.
Belike, though, he would have overcome yon fellow before this had he been
in his former trim."
At last Little John saw his chance, and, throwing all the
strength he felt going from him into one blow that might have
felled an ox, he struck at the Tanner with might and main.
And now did the Tanner's cowhide cap stand him in good stead,
and but for it he might never have held staff in hand again.
As it was, the blow he caught beside the head was so shrewd
that it sent him staggering across the little glade, so that,
if Little John had had the strength to follow up his vantage,
it would have been ill for stout Arthur. But he regained himself
quickly and, at arm's length, struck back a blow at Little John,
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and this time the stroke reached its mark, and down went Little John
at full length, his cudgel flying from his hand as he fell.
Then, raising his staff, stout Arthur dealt him another blow
upon the ribs.
"Hold!" roared Little John. "Wouldst thou strike a man when he is down?"
"Ay, marry would I," quoth the Tanner, giving him another thwack
with his staff.
"Stop!" roared Little John. "Help! Hold, I say! I yield me!
I yield me, I say, good fellow!"
"Hast thou had enough?" asked the Tanner grimly, holding his staff aloft.
"Ay, marry, and more than enough."
"And thou dost own that I am the better man of the two?"
"Yea, truly, and a murrain seize thee!" said Little John,
the first aloud and the last to his beard.
"Then thou mayst go thy ways; and thank thy patron saint that I
am a merciful man," said the Tanner.
"A plague o' such mercy as thine!" said Little John, sitting up and
feeling his ribs where the Tanner had cudgeled him. "I make my vow,
my ribs feel as though every one of them were broken in twain.
I tell thee, good fellow, I did think there was never a man in all
Nottinghamshire could do to me what thou hast done this day."
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"And so thought I, also," cried Robin Hood, bursting out of the thicket
and shouting with laughter till the tears ran down his cheeks.
"O man, man!" said he, as well as he could for his mirth, " 'a didst
go over like a bottle knocked from a wall. I did see the whole
merry bout, and never did I think to see thee yield thyself so,
hand and foot, to any man in all merry England. I was seeking thee,
to chide thee for leaving my bidding undone; but thou hast been
paid all I owed thee, full measure, pressed down and overflowing,
by this good fellow. Marry, 'a did reach out his arm full
length while thou stood gaping at him, and, with a pretty rap,
tumbled thee over as never have I seen one tumbled before."
So spoke bold Robin, and all the time Little John sat upon
the ground, looking as though he had sour curds in his mouth.
"What may be thy name, good fellow?" said Robin, next, turning
to the Tanner.
"Men do call me Arthur a Bland," spoke up the Tanner boldly,
"and now what may be thy name?"
"Ha, Arthur a Bland!" quoth Robin, "I have heard thy name before,
good fellow. Thou didst break the crown of a friend of mine
at the fair at Ely last October. The folk there call him
Jock o' Nottingham; we call him Will Scathelock. This poor
fellow whom thou hast so belabored is counted the best hand at
the quarterstaff in all merry England. His name is Little John,
and mine Robin Hood."
"How!" cried the Tanner, "art thou indeed the great Robin Hood,
and is this the famous Little John? Marry, had I known who thou art,
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