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Among the interesting things belonging to my grandmother, besides her dowry, at the time of the marriage, was her family. Her father was so original that he kept a tutor for his daughters sons he had none and allowed them to be instructed in the rudiments of three or four languages and the elements of arithmetic. Even more unconventional was her sister Hode.
We can scarcely call these historical tales: they are legendary; yet it may well be that a stratum of fact underlies the aftergrowth of romance; certainly they were history to the people, and as such, with a mental reservation, they shall be history to us. We propose, therefore, here to convert into prose "a lytell geste of Robyn Hode." It was a day in merry spring-tide.
"Paid the carpenters 5s. for a barrow to carry the people that died of the sickness to church to bury them." "For a coat for the whipper, and making, 3s." "For too payre of glovys for Robin Hode and Mayde Maryan, 3d." "Received for the May- pole, 1 pound 4s."
And in order to accustom her to think well of the match, Hode dinned the boy's name in my mother's ears day and night, praising him and showing him off. She would open her jewel boxes and take out the flashing diamonds, heavy chains, and tinkling bracelets, dress my mother in them in front of the mirror, telling her that they would all be hers all her own when she became the bride of Mulke.
But to conclude our peregrination the glory of Hode, Rievaulx, and Byland abbeys has departed their founders, ecclesiastics and patrons, have become dust the crumbling arch and tottering pillar alone record "the whereabouts" of the rendezvous of heroes and kings and rooks construct their dwellings where the silver crucifix once reared its massy form, before crowds of adoring monks the hoarse croak of the raven is now heard through that valley where pealed the vesper bell; and the melancholy music of the lonely river succeeds the solemn chant of mass; laugh and jest resound where monkish praise quivered through the Gothic space the helmet and coronet of blood and birth are fallen from their wearers and the genius and eccentricity of Sterne, and the wit of Wharton, are for ever extinct: "And fortress, fane and wealthy peer Along the tide of time are borne.
Shortly after passing Hode, we arrived at the base of Hambleton, and began to ascend its rocky front; we had climbed half the ascent, when, on cautiously turning ourselves, an indescribable picture presented itself in the vale and its objects below; the solemn silence of the early hour the first greeting of the morning sun the glittering and distant lake of Gormire, guarded by towering hills to the right and, to the left, rocks which have stood whilst generations of heroes and kings have passed away; and, beyond this vivid scene, in dim perspective, arose the western hills, tinged with delicate blue, and scarcely discernible from the clouds which floated over them.
But she was to blame for voluntarily exiling herself from Jewish society for years at a time, to live among pork-eaters, and copy the bold ways of Gentile women. And so while they pitied her childlessness, the women of Polotzk regarded her misfortune as perhaps no more than a due punishment. Hode, poor woman, felt a hungry heart beneath her satin robes.
Hode would treat my mother to every delicacy in her sumptuous pantry, tell her wonderful tales of life in distant parts, show her all her beautiful dresses and jewels, and load her with presents. As my mother developed into girlhood, her aunt grew more and more covetous of her.
In the end Robin lent him Little John for a squire, and gave him twelve months in which to repay his loan. Away he went, no longer a knight of rueful countenance. "Nowe as the knight went on his way, This game he thought full good, When he looked on Bernysdale He blyssed Robin Hode;
She wanted to adopt one of my grandmother's children, but my grandmother would not hear of it. Hode was particularly taken with my mother, and my grandmother, in compassion, loaned her the child for days at a time; and those were happy days for both aunt and niece.
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