Robin Hood and Allan-a-Dale is a traditional Englishballad, catalogued asChild Ballad No. 138 and asRoud Folk Song Index No. 3298.
The ballad uses the kinds of rhyme, rhythm and metre commonly found in English ballads of the 13th and 14th centuries. It has from six to ten syllables per line, and no strict metrical scheme, but therhyme scheme is throughout of ABCBquatrains. It was first published in 1765 inBishop Thomas Percy's three volume compilation of ballads entitledReliques of Ancient English Poetry.
Robin Hood one day sees a cheerful young man dressed in red, singing and playing in the greenwood: it isAllan-a-Dale. The next day, he sees him again, dejected. He sends two of hisMerry Men,Little John andMuch the Miller's Son, to apprehend him. Robin asks Allan for money; but he explains that he has but little, and that the cause of his sorrow is that histrue love is to be married to an elderlyknight. When Allan agrees to serve Robin, the latter springs into action. He turns up at the church as aharper, but refuses to play: firstly, until he has seen the bride and groom; secondly, after he has seen them, because he does not consider the old man and the young girl a suitable match. He blows his horn: and his Merry Men, now including Allan, appear. Thebishop refuses to marry Allan and the girl, because it is the law that consent must be asked three times. Robin puts the bishop's cloak on Little John, who mockingly asks the question seven times – and then marries the young couple, Robin giving away the bridein loco parentis. All then - except, presumably, for the old knight and the bishop - repair to the greenwood.[1]