Robin Hood and Little John
Robin Hood and Little John
Nursery Rhyme
Robin Hood, Robin Hood,
Is in the mickle* wood!
Little John, Little John,
He to the town is gone.
Robin Hood, Robin Hood,
Telling his beads**,
All in the greenwood
Among the green weeds.
Little John, Little John,
If he comes no more,
Robin Hood, Robin Hood,
We shall fret full sore!
Notes
*Mickle means great
**"Telling his beads" means to be a good Catholic and is referring to praying with the rosary (which is made of beads – a person counts the number of prayers he/she is saying on the beads of the rosary).
Comments
Halliwell (a 19th century collector of nursery rhymes) wrote about this rhyme: "The following song [above], relating to Robin Hood, the celebrated outlaw, is well known at Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, where it constitutes one of the nursery series."
Thanks and Acknowledgements
This rhyme and the 1st illustration can be found in The Real Mother Goose (1916), illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright. The 2nd illustration is from "The True Tale Of Robin Hood" from An Eighteenth-Century Chap-Book. This rhyme can also be found in The Nursery Rhymes of England (1842) collected and edited by James Orchard Halliwell.
