from oberon, in fairy land,

the king of ghosts and shadows there,

mad robin, i, at his command,

am sent to view the night sports here.

what revel rout

is kept about

in every corner where i go,

i will o’ersee

and merry be,

and make good sport, with ho, ho, ho!

more swift than lightning can i fly

about this airy welkin soon;

and, in a minute’s space, descry

each thing that’s done below the moon.

there’s not a hag

or ghost shall wag

84or cry, ‘ware goblins! where i go;

but, robin, i,

their feats will spy

and send them home with ho, ho, ho!

whene’er such wanderers i meet,

as from their night sports they trudge home,

with counterfeiting voice i greet,

and call them on with me to roam;

through woods, through lakes,

through bogs, through brakes,

or else, unseen, with them i go,

all in the nick

to play some trick,

and frolic it, with ho, ho, ho!

sometimes i meet them like a man,

sometimes an ox, sometimes a hound;

and to a horse i turn me can,

to trip and trot about them round.

but if to ride,

my back they stride,

more swift than wind away i go,

o’er hedge and lands

through pools and ponds

i hurry laughing, ho, ho, ho!

85by wells and rills in meadows green

we nightly dance our heyday guise;

and to our fairy king and queen

we chant our moonlight minstrelsies.

when larks ‘gin sing

away we fling;

and babes new born steal as we go;

and elf in bed,

we leave instead,

and wend us, laughing ho, ho, ho!

from hag-bred merlin’s time have i

thus nightly revel’d to and fro;

and for my pranks men call me by

the name of robin goodfellow.

fiends, ghosts, and sprites

who haunt the nights,

the hags and goblins do me know;

and beldames old

my feats have told,

so vale, vale, ho, ho, ho!