Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudeslie

Glasgow: Printed for the Booksellers

1840-1850 per University of Glasgow Union Catalogue of Scottish Chapbooks

24 pages

16 cm

111 is printed at the bottom of the title page

fairytale/folk lore

A Robin Hood-like tale of three bowmen who have been living in the woods after being outlawed for poaching. One of the bowman, William of Cloudeslie, attempts to visit his wife and children in town, where he is welcomed by her but turned in by an old woman to the authorities. William fights back but is captured when they attempt to burn down his house with him and his children inside. He is ordered to be hanged the next day by the Justice and Sheriff, but his two friends charge in and rescue him, slaughtering the entire garrison in the attempt. Before word of this reaches court, the three men go directly to the King to ask for pardons for their poaching. The King is not at first inclined to grant their request, but the Queen intercedes on their behalf, asking for mercy. The yeomen leave with their pardons, but word of the slaughter of the Justice and Sheriff and 300 of their men soon reaches the king. He sends men out to return the men and threatens to hang them unless they can explain how three men managed to kill so many. They demonstrate their skill with the bow first with sticks and then with an apple on the head of William’s son, after which the king and queen, both overwhelmed with the demonstration of such skill, pardon them and reward them with land, title, and money.

Carlisle, Cumbria, England

Courtship and Marriage

Crime

Chapbooks - Scotland - Glasgow

Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library, Guelph, Ontario

University of Glasgow Union Catalogue of Scottish Chapbooks http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/chapbooks/search/

JPEGs and PDF derived from master file, which was scanned from the original book in 24-bit color at 600 dpi in TIFF format using an Epson Expression 10000XL scanner.

In the public domain; For high quality reproductions, contact Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph libaspc@uoguelph.ca 519-824-4120 Ext 53413

Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph Library, Guelph, Ontario, Canada