HOW ROBIN HOOD CEASED TO BE AN OUTLAW
Reading edition
Showing that from an outlaw can be made a good and worthy citizen.
Many years went by and Richard was now King of England. In Nottingham Town all was noise and uproar because the great king was to come to that town and visit the Sheriff. Crowds packed the public square to welcome him as he passed by.
Robin Hood and all his men were there, but some were in disguise. Friar Tuck and Little John stood boldly in the crowd and when the Sheriff saw them he turned quite pale.
That night at the great banquet the king said:
“I have heard much of Robin Hood and his men hereabouts. I should like to see him. They tell me he can shoot a bow wondrous well.”
“Very easily arranged,” said one of the heralds, “if you and a few others will dress as Black Friars and go into Sherwood Forest.”
This pleased the king, and on the morrow he and several others dressed as Black Friars, with hoods over their faces, and went into the forest as though they were travelers. By and by the king said:
“Here we have come and brought nothing to drink. I am as thirsty as though we were in a desert.” As he said that out stepped a man from the roadside, and taking hold of the bridle of the horse on which rode the supposed friar, said:
“Come with me, holy brother, and I shall lighten your purse and give you a merry feast.”
The man was Robin Hood. Leading the king’s horse and guiding the others, he led them all to his hiding place and gave them a feast, though he was careful to take all the money that the supposed friars carried.
They showed their guests their wonderful archery. Robin Hood ordered that every man who missed his mark should have a buffet on the ear. Some of them missed and were soundly cuffed for their errors. Finally Robin Hood had to shoot, and by a strange chance he missed his mark on account of a bad arrow.
“I will cuff thee myself,” said the king laughing, and baring his mighty arm he gave Robin such a knock that the bold outlaw lay stretched upon the grass rubbing the side of his head.
But the king had showed his face in doing this.
“Our king! King Richard!” they cried in dismay, and knelt at his feet. But the king told them to rise, that he liked bold outlaws. In fact, he pardoned them for all their misdeeds.
“Robin Hood and Little John and Will Scarlet and Allan-a-Dale must come with me to the wars. The others may live here and be my loyal foresters,” ordered the king.
And it was so. Robin Hood went away with the king that he loved so much and became head of all the archers in the kingdom. The merry men lived loyal and law-abiding in Sherwood Forest. And that was the end of the outlaws.