The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
ye ready straightway."
Then once more they sat Little John upon the horse, with his face to the
tail, and so, one leading the horse whereon he sat and the others riding
around him, they went forward to that tree from the branches of which
they had thought to hang the poachers. On they went, rattling and
jingling along the road till they came to the tree. Here one of the men
spake to the Sheriff of a sudden. "Your Worship," cried he, "is not yon
fellow coming along toward us that same Guy of Gisbourne whom thou didst
send into the forest to seek Robin Hood?" At these words the Sheriff
shaded his eyes and looked eagerly. "Why, certes," quoth he, "yon
fellow is the same. Now, Heaven send that he hath slain the master
thief, as we will presently slay the man!"
When Little John heard this speech he looked up, and straightway his
heart crumbled away within him, for not only were the man's garments all
covered with blood, but he wore Robin Hood's bugle horn and carried his
bow and broadsword.
"How now!" cried the Sheriff, when Robin Hood, in Guy of Gisbourne's
clothes, had come nigh to them. "What luck hath befallen thee in the
forest? Why, man, thy clothes are all over blood!"
"An thou likest not my clothes," said Robin in a harsh voice like that
of Guy of Gisbourne, "thou mayst shut thine eyes. Marry, the blood upon
me is that of the vilest outlaw that ever trod the woodlands, and one
whom I have slain this day, albeit not without wound to myself."
Then out spake Little John, for the first time since he had fallen into
the Sheriff's hands. "O thou vile, bloody wretch! I know thee, Guy of
Gisbourne, for who is there that hath not heard of thee and cursed thee
for thy vile deeds of blood and rapine? Is it by such a hand as thine
that the gentlest heart that ever beat is stilled in death? Truly, thou
art a fit tool for this coward Sheriff of Nottingham. Now I die
joyfully, nor do I care how I die, for life is nought to me!" So spake
Little John, the salt tears rolling down his brown cheeks.
But the Sheriff of Nottingham clapped his hands for joy. "Now, Guy of
Gisbourne," cried he, "if what thou tellest me is true, it will be the
best day's doings for thee that ever thou hast done in all thy life."
"What I have told thee is sooth, and I lie not," said Robin, still in
Guy of Gisbourne's voice. "Look, is not this Robin Hood's sword, and is
not this his good bow of yew, and is not this his bugle horn? Thinkest
thou he would have given them to Guy of Gisbourne of his own free will?"
Then the Sheriff laughed aloud for joy. "This is a good day!" cried he.
"The great outlaw dead and his right-hand man in my hands! Ask what thou
wilt of me, Guy of Gisbourne, and it is thine!"
"Then this I ask of thee," said Robin. "As I have slain the master I
would now kill the man. Give this fellow's life into my hands, Sir
Sheriff."
"Now thou art a fool!" cried the Sheriff. "Thou mightst have had money
enough for a knight's ransom if thou hadst asked for it. I like ill to
let this fellow pass from my hands, but as I have promised, thou shalt
have him."
"I thank thee right heartily for thy gift," cried Robin. "Take the
rogue down from the horse, men, and lean him against yonder tree, while
I show you how we stick a porker whence I come!"
At these words some of the Sheriff's men shook their heads; for, though
they cared not a whit whether Little John were hanged or not, they hated
to see him butchered in cold blood. But the Sheriff called to them in a
loud voice, ordering them to take the yeoman down from the horse and
lean him against the tree, as the other bade.
While they were doing this Robin Hood strung both his bow and that of
Guy of Gisbourne, albeit none of them took notice of his doing so.
Then, when Little John stood against the tree, he drew Guy of
Gisbourne's sharp, double-edged dagger. "Fall back! fall back!" cried
he. "Would ye crowd so on my pleasure, ye unmannerly knaves? Back, I
say! Farther yet!" So they crowded back, as he ordered, many of them
turning their faces away, that they might not see what was about to
happen.
"Come!" cried Little John. "Here is my breast. It is meet that the
same hand that slew my dear master should butcher me also! I know thee,
Guy of Gisbourne!"
"Peace, Little John!" said Robin in a low voice. "Twice thou hast said
thou knowest me, and yet thou knowest me not at all. Couldst thou not
tell me beneath this wild beast's hide? Yonder, just in front of thee,
lie my bow and arrows, likewise my broadsword. Take them when I cut thy
bonds. Now! Get them quickly!" So saying, he cut the bonds, and Little
John, quick as a wink, leaped forward and caught up the bow and arrows
and the broadsword. At the same time Robin Hood threw back the cowl of
horse's hide from his face and bent Guy of Gisbourne's bow, with a keen,
barbed arrow fitted to the string. "Stand back!" cried he sternly. "The
first man that toucheth finger to bowstring dieth! I have slain thy man,
Sheriff; take heed that it is not thy turn next." Then, seeing that
Little John had armed himself, he clapped his bugle horn to his lips and
blew three blasts both loud and shrill.
Now when the Sheriff of Nottingham saw whose face it was beneath Guy of
Gisbourne's hood, and when he heard those bugle notes ring in his ear,
he felt as if his hour had come. "Robin Hood!" roared he, and without
another word he wheeled his horse in the road and went off in a cloud of
dust. The Sheriff's men, seeing their master thus fleeing for his life,
thought that it was not their business to tarry longer, so, clapping
spurs to their horses, they also dashed away after him. But though the
Sheriff of Nottingham went fast, he could not outstrip a clothyard
arrow. Little John twanged his bowstring with a shout, and when the
Sheriff dashed in through the gates of Nottingham Town at full speed, a
gray goose shaft stuck out behind him like a moulting sparrow with one
feather in its tail. For a month afterward the poor Sheriff could sit
upon nought but the softest cushions that could be gotten for him.
Thus the Sheriff and a score of men ran away from Robin Hood and Little
John; so that when Will Stutely and a dozen or more of stout yeomen
burst from out the covert, they saw nought of their master's enemies,
for the Sheriff and his men were scurrying away in the distance, hidden
within a cloud of dust like a little thunderstorm.
Then they all went back into the forest once more, where they found the
widow's three sons, who ran to Little John and kissed his hands. But it
would not do for them to roam the forest at large any more; so they
promised that, after they had gone and told their mother of their
escape, they would come that night to the greenwood tree, and
thenceforth become men of the band.
King Richard Comes to Sherwood Forest
NOT MORE than two months had passed and gone since these stirring
adventures befell Robin Hood and Little John, when all Nottinghamshire
was a mighty stir and tumult, for King Richard of the Lion's Heart was
making a royal progress through merry England, and everyone expected him
to come to Nottingham Town in his journeying. Messengers went riding
back and forth between the Sheriff and the King, until at last the time
was fixed upon when His Majesty was to stop in Nottingham, as the guest
of his worship.
And now came more bustle than ever; a great running hither and thither,
a rapping of hammers and a babble of voices sounded everywhere through
the place, for the folk were building great arches across the streets,
beneath which the King was to pass, and were draping these arches with
silken banners and streamers of many colors. Great hubbub was going on
in the Guild Hall of the town, also, for here a grand banquet was to be
given to the King and the nobles of his train, and the best master
carpenters were busy building a throne where the King and the Sheriff
were to sit at the head of the table, side by side.
It seemed to many of the good folk of the place as if the day that
should bring the King into the town would never come; but all the same
it did come in its own season, and bright shone the sun down into the
stony streets, which were all alive with a restless sea of people. On
either side of the way great crowds of town and country folk stood
packed as close together as dried herring in a box, so that the Sheriffs
men, halberds in hands, could hardly press them back to leave space for
the King's riding.
"Take care whom thou pushest against!" cried a great, burly friar to one
of these men. "Wouldst thou dig thine elbows into me, sirrah? By'r Lady
of the Fountain, an thou dost not treat me with more deference I will
crack thy knave's pate for thee, even though thou be one of the mighty
Sheriff's men."
At this a great shout of laughter arose from a number of tall yeomen in
Lincoln green that were scattered through the crowd thereabouts; but one
that seemed of more authority than the others nudged the holy man with
his elbow. "Peace, Tuck," said he, "didst thou not promise me, ere thou
camest here, that thou wouldst put a check upon thy tongue?"
"Ay, marry," grumbled the other, "but 'a did not think to have a
hard-footed knave trample all over my poor toes as though they were no more
than so many acorns in the forest."
But of a sudden all this bickering ceased, for a clear sound of many
bugle horns came winding down the street. Then all the people craned
their necks and gazed in the direction whence the sound came, and the
crowding and the pushing and the swaying grew greater than ever. And now
a gallant array of men came gleaming into sight, and the cheering of the
people ran down the crowd as the fire runs in dry grass.
Eight and twenty heralds in velvet and cloth of gold came riding
forward. Over their heads fluttered a cloud of snow-white feathers, and
each herald bore in his hand a long silver trumpet, which he blew
musically. From each trumpet hung a heavy banner of velvet and cloth of
gold, with the royal arms of England emblazoned thereon. After these
came riding fivescore noble knights, two by two, all fully armed, saving
that their heads were uncovered. In their hands they bore tall lances,
from the tops of which fluttered pennons of many colors and devices. By
the side of each knight walked a page clad in rich clothes of silk and
velvet, and each page bore in his hands his master's helmet, from which
waved long, floating plumes of feathers. Never had Nottingham seen a
fairer sight than those fivescore noble knights, from whose armor the
sun blazed in dazzling light as they came riding on their great war
horses, with clashing of arms and jingling of chains. Behind the
knights came the barons and the nobles of the mid-country, in robes of
silk and cloth of gold, with golden chains about their necks and jewels
at their girdles. Behind these again came a great array of men-at-arms,
with spears and halberds in their hands, and, in the midst of these, two
riders side by side. One of the horsemen was the Sheriff of Nottingham
in his robes of office. The other, who was a head taller than the
Sheriff, was clad in a rich but simple garb, with a broad, heavy chain
about his neck. His hair and beard were like threads of gold, and his
eyes were as blue as the summer sky. As he rode along he bowed to the
right hand and the left, and a mighty roar of voices followed him as he
passed; for this was King Richard.
Then, above all the tumult and the shouting a great voice was heard
roaring, "Heaven, its saints bless thee, our gracious King Richard! and
likewise Our Lady of the Fountain, bless thee!" Then King Richard,
looking toward the spot whence the sound came, saw a tall, burly,