Arthur a Bland is, in English

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, a member of

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

Merry Men The Merry Men are the group of Outlaw (stock character), outlaws who follow Robin Hood in English literature and folklore. The members of the group appear both collectively and individually in the earliest ballads about Robin Hood and remain ...

, though his chief appearance is in the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

in which he joins the band. ''Arthur a Bland'' is also the name of an ex British Waterways tug.

Plays

Arthur a Bland appears in "Robin Hood" by Larry Blamire, where he is there with Robin and the other soon to be merrymen after the ransacking of the Blue Boar Inn.

Ballads

Arthur a Bland appears in one

in the Child collection, ''

Robin Hood and the Tanner Robin Hood and the Tanner (Roud Folk Song Index, Roud 332, Child ballad, Child 126) is a late seventeenth-century English broadside ballad, broadside ballad and folk song that forms part of the Robin Hood canon. Synopsis The story follows the expl ...

''. He is going through Sherwood when Robin accuses him of poaching. When they fight and Arthur beats Robin, Robin invites him to join the band. In some versions, he is Little John's cousin.

Mummer's Plays

In English Mummer's Plays, Arthur a Bland's fight with Robin is incorporated into the general fight/death/healed setting. Most of the lines derive from the ballad, though there seems to be material from Robin Hood and the Shepherd mixed in. The lines of the Mummer's Play versions tend to be less refined than the Childe Ballads, perhaps indicating a more original type of language. For instance, when Robin Hood has been beaten by Arthur, Little John comes over the hill and Robin tells him what has happened: Childe's version: ''"O what is the matter?" then said Little John,'' ''"Master, I pray you tell;'' ''Why do you stand with your staff in your hand?'' ''I fear all is not well."'' ''"O man, I do stand, and he makes me to stand,'' ''The tanner that stands thee beside;'' ''He is a bonny blade, and master of his trade,'' ''For soundly he hath tanned my hide."''

Mummer's Play version: ''"What is the matter master?'' ''Pray unto me tell'' ''To see you stand'' ''Your staff in hand'' ''I fear it's all not well."'' ''"This tanner he stands he makes me to stand'' ''He's the tanner-hood that stand by my side'' ''He's a bonny blade o his master's trade'' ''So well he a'tanned me hide."''

Later adaptations

The story reappeared in later versions.

Howard Pyle Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853 – November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator, Painting, painter, and author, primarily of books for young people. He was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware, and he spent the last year of his life ...

in his ''

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood ''The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire'' is an 1883 novel by the American illustrator and writer Howard Pyle. Pyle compiled the traditional Robin Hood ballads as a series of episodes of a coherent narrative. Fo ...

'' set the bout between Little John and Arthur a Bland, and had Arthur appear in various later adventures as a minor character.

References

External links

An example of a Robin Hood Mummer's play, from Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, England
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur A Bland English outlaws Merry Men Robin Hood characters