The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
wage. I trow thou drawest better bow than that same coward knave Robin
Hood, that dared not show his face here this day. Say, good fellow,
wilt thou join my service?"
"Nay, that will I not," quoth the stranger roughly. "I will be mine own,
and no man in all merry England shall be my master."
"Then get thee gone, and a murrain seize thee!" cried the Sheriff, and
his voice trembled with anger. "And by my faith and troth, I have a
good part of a mind to have thee beaten for thine insolence!" Then he
turned upon his heel and strode away.
It was a right motley company that gathered about the noble greenwood
tree in Sherwood's depths that same day. A score and more of barefoot
friars were there, and some that looked like tinkers, and some that
seemed to be sturdy beggars and rustic hinds; and seated upon a mossy
couch was one all clad in tattered scarlet, with a patch over one eye;
and in his hand he held the golden arrow that was the prize of the great
shooting match. Then, amidst a noise of talking and laughter, he took
the patch from off his eye and stripped away the scarlet rags from off
his body and showed himself all clothed in fair Lincoln green; and quoth
he, "Easy come these things away, but walnut stain cometh not so
speedily from yellow hair." Then all laughed louder than before, for it
was Robin Hood himself that had won the prize from the Sheriff's very
hands.
Then all sat down to the woodland feast and talked among themselves of
the merry jest that had been played upon the Sheriff, and of the
adventures that had befallen each member of the band in his disguise.
But when the feast was done, Robin Hood took Little John apart and said,
"Truly am I vexed in my blood, for I heard the Sheriff say today, 'Thou
shootest better than that coward knave Robin Hood, that dared not show
his face here this day.' I would fain let him know who it was who won
the golden arrow from out his hand, and also that I am no coward such as
he takes me to be."
Then Little John said, "Good master, take thou me and Will Stutely, and
we will send yon fat Sheriff news of all this by a messenger such as he
doth not expect."
That day the Sheriff sat at meat in the great hall of his house at
Nottingham Town. Long tables stood down the hall, at which sat men-at-arms
and household servants and good stout villains,[Bond-servants.] in
all fourscore and more. There they talked of the day's shooting as they
ate their meat and quaffed their ale. The Sheriff sat at the head of the
table upon a raised seat under a canopy, and beside him sat his dame.
"By my troth," said he, "I did reckon full roundly that that knave Robin
Hood would be at the game today. I did not think that he was such a
coward. But who could that saucy knave be who answered me to my beard so
bravely? I wonder that I did not have him beaten; but there was
something about him that spoke of other things than rags and tatters."
Then, even as he finished speaking, something fell rattling among the
dishes on the table, while those that sat near started up wondering what
it might be. After a while one of the men-at-arms gathered courage
enough to pick it up and bring it to the Sheriff. Then everyone saw
that it was a blunted gray goose shaft, with a fine scroll, about the
thickness of a goose quill, tied near to its head. The Sheriff opened
the scroll and glanced at it, while the veins upon his forehead swelled
and his cheeks grew ruddy with rage as he read, for this was what he
saw:
"_Now Heaven bless Thy Grace this day
Say all in sweet Sherwood
For thou didst give the prize away
To merry Robin Hood_."
"Whence came this?" cried the Sheriff in a mighty voice.
"Even through the window, Your Worship," quoth the man who had handed
the shaft to him.
Will Stutely Rescued by His Companions
NOW WHEN THE SHERIFF found that neither law nor guile could overcome
Robin Hood, he was much perplexed, and said to himself, "Fool that I am!
Had I not told our King of Robin Hood, I would not have gotten myself
into such a coil; but now I must either take him captive or have wrath
visited upon my head from his most gracious Majesty. I have tried law,
and I have tried guile, and I have failed in both; so I will try what
may be done with might."
Thus communing within himself, he called his constables together and
told them what was in his mind. "Now take ye each four men, all armed
in proof," said he, "and get ye gone to the forest, at different points,
and lie in wait for this same Robin Hood. But if any constable finds
too many men against him, let him sound a horn, and then let each band
within hearing come with all speed and join the party that calls them.
Thus, I think, shall we take this green-clad knave. Furthermore, to him
that first meeteth with Robin Hood shall one hundred pounds of silver
money be given, if he be brought to me dead or alive; and to him that
meeteth with any of his band shall twoscore pounds be given, if such be
brought to me dead or alive. So, be ye bold and be ye crafty."
So thus they went in threescore companies of five to Sherwood Forest, to
take Robin Hood, each constable wishing that he might be the one to find
the bold outlaw, or at least one of his band. For seven days and nights
they hunted through the forest glades, but never saw so much as a single
man in Lincoln green; for tidings of all this had been brought to Robin
Hood by trusty Eadom o' the Blue Boar.
When he first heard the news, Robin said, "If the Sheriff dare send
force to meet force, woe will it be for him and many a better man
besides, for blood will flow and there will be great trouble for all.
But fain would I shun blood and battle, and fain would I not deal sorrow
to womenfolk and wives because good stout yeomen lose their lives. Once
I slew a man, and never do I wish to slay a man again, for it is bitter
for the soul to think thereon. So now we will abide silently in
Sherwood Forest, so that it may be well for all, but should we be forced
to defend ourselves, or any of our band, then let each man draw bow and
brand with might and main."
At this speech many of the band shook their heads, and said to
themselves, "Now the Sheriff will think that we are cowards, and folk
will scoff throughout the countryside, saying that we fear to meet these
men." But they said nothing aloud, swallowing their words and doing as
Robin bade them.
Thus they hid in the depths of Sherwood Forest for seven days and seven
nights and never showed their faces abroad in all that time; but early
in the morning of the eighth day Robin Hood called the band together and
said, "Now who will go and find what the Sheriff's men are at by this
time? For I know right well they will not bide forever within Sherwood
shades."
At this a great shout arose, and each man waved his bow aloft and cried
that he might be the one to go. Then Robin Hood's heart was proud when
he looked around on his stout, brave fellows, and he said, "Brave and
true are ye all, my merry men, and a right stout band of good fellows
are ye, but ye cannot all go, so I will choose one from among you, and
it shall be good Will Stutely, for he is as sly as e'er an old dog fox
in Sherwood Forest."
Then Will Stutely leaped high aloft and laughed loudly, clapping his
hands for pure joy that he should have been chosen from among them all.
"Now thanks, good master," quoth he, "and if I bring not news of those
knaves to thee, call me no more thy sly Will Stutely."
Then he clad himself in a friar's gown, and underneath the robe he hung
a good broadsword in such a place that he could easily lay hands upon
it. Thus clad, he set forth upon his quest, until he came to the verge
of the forest, and so to the highway. He saw two bands of the Sheriff's
men, yet he turned neither to the right nor the left, but only drew his
cowl the closer over his face, folding his hands as if in meditation. So
at last he came to the Sign of the Blue Boar. "For," quoth he to
himself, "our good friend Eadom will tell me all the news."
At the Sign of the Blue Boar he found a band of the Sheriffs men
drinking right lustily; so, without speaking to anyone, he sat down upon
a distant bench, his staff in his hand, and his head bowed forward as
though he were meditating. Thus he sat waiting until he might see the
landlord apart, and Eadom did not know him, but thought him to be some
poor tired friar, so he let him sit without saying a word to him or
molesting him, though he liked not the cloth. "For," said he to
himself, "it is a hard heart that kicks the lame dog from off the sill."
As Stutely sat thus, there came a great house cat and rubbed against his
knee, raising his robe a palm's-breadth high. Stutely pushed his robe
quickly down again, but the constable who commanded the Sheriffs men saw
what had passed, and saw also fair Lincoln green beneath the friar's
robe. He said nothing at the time, but communed within himself in this
wise: "Yon is no friar of orders gray, and also, I wot, no honest yeoman
goeth about in priest's garb, nor doth a thief go so for nought. Now I
think in good sooth that is one of Robin Hood's own men." So, presently,
he said aloud, "O holy father, wilt thou not take a good pot of March
beer to slake thy thirsty soul withal?"
But Stutely shook his head silently, for he said to himself, "Maybe
there be those here who know my voice."
Then the constable said again, "Whither goest thou, holy friar, upon
this hot summer's day?"
"I go a pilgrim to Canterbury Town," answered Will Stutely, speaking
gruffly, so that none might know his voice.
Then the constable said, for the third time, "Now tell me, holy father,
do pilgrims to Canterbury wear good Lincoln green beneath their robes?
Ha! By my faith, I take thee to be some lusty thief, and perhaps one of
Robin Hood's own band! Now, by Our Lady's grace, if thou movest hand or
foot, I will run thee through the body with my sword!"
Then he flashed forth his bright sword and leaped upon Will Stutely,
thinking he would take him unaware; but Stutely had his own sword
tightly held in his hand, beneath his robe, so he drew it forth before
the constable came upon him. Then the stout constable struck a mighty
blow; but he struck no more in all that fight, for Stutely, parrying the
blow right deftly, smote the constable back again with all his might.
Then he would have escaped, but could not, for the other, all dizzy with
the wound and with the flowing blood, seized him by the knees with his
arms even as he reeled and fell. Then the others rushed upon him, and
Stutely struck again at another of the Sheriff's men, but the steel cap
glanced the blow, and though the blade bit deep, it did not kill.
Meanwhile, the constable, fainting as he was, drew Stutely downward, and
the others, seeing the yeoman hampered so, rushed upon him again, and
one smote him a blow upon the crown so that the blood ran down his face
and blinded him. Then, staggering, he fell, and all sprang upon him,
though he struggled so manfully that they could hardly hold him fast.
Then they bound him with stout hempen cords so that he could not move
either hand or foot, and thus they overcame him.
Robin Hood stood under the greenwood tree, thinking of Will Stutely and
how he might be faring, when suddenly he saw two of his stout yeomen
come running down the forest path, and betwixt them ran buxom Maken of
the Blue Boar. Then Robin's heart fell, for he knew they were the
bearers of ill tidings.
"Will Stutely hath been taken," cried they, when they had come to where
he stood.
"And is it thou that hast brought such doleful news?" said Robin to the
lass.
"Ay, marry, for I saw it all," cried she, panting as the hare pants when