The ballad - Index of

The Ballad
The Gest of Robyn Hode 1 is not a single ballad,
but several ballads rhapsodised into a short epic ;
the interweaving of the various tales is cleverly
done, though not so artistically that we cannot see
the seams here and there. The very title warns
us that it is not a ballad ; gest (gesta) meant " a
chronicle of
"
exploits
when the title was given
to this conglomeration, although
it was soon corrupted,
and " merry " became its epithet
" " before
gest became
"
jest."
Its joyous spirit cannot
be communicated by description. It must be
read through all its 456 verses ;
the language
is
that of the fifteenth century, and presents far
less difficulty
to the ordinary reader than most
ordinary readers believe. The whole is divided
"
into eight fyttes," which are grouped according
to subject-matter thus the : first, second, and
fourth fyttes are concerned with Robin's delivery
of a knight from his indebtedness to the
Abbot of St.
Mary Abbey at York ;
the third,
fifth, and sixth show how Little John embroils
Robin with the Sheriff of Nottingham, who
treacherously attempts to capture Robin, but is
twice defeated and finally
killed ;
and the seventh
and eighth fyttes introduce the widely popular
motifs of the king in disguise meeting a subject,
and the outlaw's visit to the king's Court. This
takes us to verse 450, where we could have wished
the Gest had ended ;
but the last six verses
1
Fourth Series, I.
59