November 20th, 2008

Read it from the beginning:
Part 1: King Robin from Manx legend
Part 2: Cock Robin’s similarity to King Robin

You’re reading Part 3: Cock Robin’s explicit links to Robin Hood.

Here is, first of all, Cock Robin’s help to an ill Jenny, and then a parallel from two children’s games in which we are blatantly dealing with Robin Hood gone wooing. The wren’s name is Jenny, which is also the name of Robin Hood’s love.

The wren scho lies in care’s bed, (she lies sick)
In care’s bed, in care’s bed
The wren scho lies in care’s bed,,
Wi’ mukle dule and pain, O. (great discomfort)

When in cam’ Robin Redbreist,
Redbreist, Redbreist
When in cam’ Robin Redbreist,
Wi’ sugar-saps and wine, O

“Now, maiden, will ye taste o’ this,
Taste o’ this, taste o’ this
Now, maiden, will ye taste o’ this,
It’s sugar saps and wine, O?

Follow up:

Na, ne’er a drap, Robin, (no, not a drop)
Robin, Robin
Na, ne’er a drap, Robin,
Though it were ne’er sae fine, O. (so fine)

And where’s the ring that I gied ye, (gave you)
That I gied ye, that I gied ye
And where’s the ring that I gied ye,
Ye little cutty-queen, O?

I gave it till an ox-ee,
An ox-ee, an ox-e
I gave it till an ox-ee,
A true sweetheart o’ mine, O.

More on the Robin and Jenny theme:

Little Jenny Wren fell sick upon a time,
When in came Robin Red-breast,
and brought her bread and wine
“Eat, Jenny, drink, Jenny, all shall be thine!”

Then Jenny she got better, and stood upon her feet,
And says to little Robin, “I love thee not a bit!”
Then Robin he was angry and flew upon a twig,
“Hoot upon thee, fie upon thee, ungrateful chit!”

or

Saying, out upon you, Fie upon you, bold-faced jig.

This is comparable to a children’s game called Gentle Robin:

Here comes gentle Robin, Robin,
Here come gentle Robin with sugar-cake and wine.
O ladies, will ye taste it, taste it,
O ladies, will ye taste it before you go away?
We’ll first go round the kitchen the kitchen the kitchen,
We’ll first go round the kitchen, and then go round the hall.
Come choose ye out the fairest, the fairest, the fairest,
Come choose ye out the fairest, the fairest of them all.

The fairest one that I can see is pretty { }, come with me.

The details of the game are thus:

A row game:
Robin stands in front and the row sings the first lines, answered by Robin in the next couplet. He walks round the row singing the next couplet; then those in the row invite him to choose a girl. He takes the hand of his choice, singing the next lines; and leading her out, they whirl round while the rest sing the concluding stanza. The usual change-over is made, and the game begins anew.

There is another version of this, in which the girl’s name is invariably Jane or Jenny, and in which it is not just Robin gone courting—he also has his “brothers” along—i.e., the Brothers Three, which in folklore is Robin Hood, Little John, and Bold Archer, though it took me quite a bit of reconstruction and piecing together to figure out Bold Archer, who has generally been quite forgotten.

Here is the Brethren Three version:

We are three brethren come from Spain
To ask along your daughter Jane.

My daughter Jane is far too young
To understand your Spanish tongue.

Go away, Coat-green.

My name is not Coat-green,
I step my foot, and away I go.

Come back, come back, your coat is green,
And choose the fairest one you see.

The fairest one that I can see is bonny Jeanie, come
with we.

The last word I have on this for now, is taken from the refrain of a Scotch song about Cock Robin’s death.

“Sic a bird as ye, Robin,
Ne’er sat on breer.”

or

“Such a bird as you, Robin,
Never sat on briar.”

That is not addressed to a bird!

Now take what Cock Robin says in his death throes:

Robin rais’d him frae the earth,
And mounted on a tree;

“I hae dwelt on this burn side
For three-and-thirty yearie“

Sing hitherie titherie tando,
Robin sick and weary.

Compare this to lines from a Welsh mummer’s play:

In come I, Robin Hood,
Thirty years I lived in the woods,
Some say less and some say more.
I rob the rich to feed the poor.

By the way, this is the only source I have ever ever ever found that ever says Robin robbed from the rich to give to the poor, and that was not Robin’s original audacity. You can read about Robin’s re-discovered original audacity here.

So from all the above sources, I think we can take it for granted that the Cock Robin concept is a disguised version of the Robin Hood legend. Also, we can wonder how the Manx came to have their King Robin version of it, which manifestly does not make believe that they were birds, though it confuses Jenny’s name. And for any Celtic types out there, we can relish the beautiful Gaelic wording—it makes the legend feel so ancient.

And for those of us who are into English/Scotch folklore, we’ll enjoy the rather Mummer’s Play feel of the Robin/Three Brethren children’s games.

Conclusion: King Robin = Cock Robin = Robin Hood