"Now will I make my vow," quoth Little John, "thou art the very best swordsman that ever mine eyes beheld." ... "Now," quoth Little John, "it doth seem to me that instead of striving to cut one another's throats, it were better for us to be boon companions. What sayst thou, jolly Cook, wilt thou go with me to Sherwood Forest and join with Robin Hood's band? Thou shalt live a merry life within the woodlands, and sevenscore good companions shalt thou have, one of whom is mine own self. Thou shalt have two suits of Lincoln green each year, and forty marks in pay."
Part Second, Chapter III, p 73[5]: 73
Gest"I make my vow to God," said Little John, "And by my true lewté, Thou art one of the best swordmen That ever yet saw I me. "Couldst thou shoot as well with a bow, To green wood thou shouldst with me, And two times in the year thy clothing Changed should be, "And every year of Robin Hood Twenty marks to thy fee." "Put up thy sword," said the cook, "And fellows will we be."
Third Fytte, lines 673-684[6]: lines 673-684
Pyle's characters use a manner of speaking that has since become familiar to modern audiences as a sort of Middle English or Early Modern English dialect. Here is part of the dialog during the sword duel scene between Little John and the Cook compared to the dialog in the corresponding scene found in A Gest of Robyn Hode. (The Gest spelling has been updated to Modern English spelling for easier reading.)
