HOW ROBIN HOOD BECAME AN OUTLAW

In which a good man unwittingly commits an offence and becomes an outlaw.

A long time ago in England in Sherwood Forest, there lived a famous outlaw named Robin Hood. There was no one who could shoot an arrow straighter or farther than Robin Hood. He was known far and near as strong, brave, and generous.

He never robbed the poor nor did any mean thing. He and his “merry men” lived in the depths of the forest, in a place where the king’s men could not find them, and they passed their time in hunting the king’s deer, in archery and other sports.

Though they were outlaws, Robin Hood and his men were much beloved by the country people; for though he robbed the rich and the oppressor, he always gave abundantly to the poor and needy.

Now, this is the way Robin Hood became an outlaw: He may have been the son of a nobleman, but that nobody knows. However, when he was eighteen years of age he knew that the Sheriff of Nottingham was having a great shooting match for forty pieces of silver.

“Now, I will go and draw my bow and shoot a shaft for the bright eyes of my lass. Besides that, I need the silver,” said Robin Hood, and started off to Nottingham Town.

As he walked along whistling, and thinking of the sport before him, he saw some foresters seated under a great tree. They were the keepers of the king’s game. One of them called out:

“Here, my merry man! where are you going so fast with your penny bow and your farthing arrows?”

Now, Robin Hood was very proud of his bow and arrows, so he answered sharply:

“Where I go is my business—but I can shoot better than any one of you.”

They all laughed aloud for they were famous shots. Robin became angrier as they laughed.

“See that deer yonder—more than sixty rods away are they; but I can bring one down from here,” cried he. They gave him permission. Twang! went his shaft straight into the heart of the big stag. It was a long and splendid shot, but, after all, he had killed a king’s deer!

“Get thee gone from here, knave!” they cried, “or we will have thy ears shaven close to thy head!” and they began to berate Robin and beat him for they were afraid themselves. Robin ran, and as he ran the foresters shot at him and narrowly missed him.

He was now in danger of his own life, so he stepped behind a tree and fitted another arrow to his bow, and while his pursuers were still far off, he sent a shaft into the breast of the foremost. He fell dead and the others turned back.

Robin was now an outlaw. He had killed the king’s deer and had slain one of the king’s foresters, and now Robin Hood had to hide in Sherwood Forest.