The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
it has escaped the hounds, "and I fear he is wounded sore, for one smote
him main shrewdly i' the crown. They have bound him and taken him to
Nottingham Town, and ere I left the Blue Boar I heard that he should be
hanged tomorrow day."
"He shall not be hanged tomorrow day," cried Robin; "or, if he be, full
many a one shall gnaw the sod, and many shall have cause to cry
Alack-a-day!"
Then he clapped his horn to his lips and blew three blasts right loudly,
and presently his good yeomen came running through the greenwood until
sevenscore bold blades were gathered around him.
"Now hark you all!" cried Robin. "Our dear companion Will Stutely hath
been taken by that vile Sheriff's men, therefore doth it behoove us to
take bow and brand in hand to bring him off again; for I wot that we
ought to risk life and limb for him, as he hath risked life and limb for
us. Is it not so, my merry men all?" Then all cried, "Ay!" with a great
voice.
So the next day they all wended their way from Sherwood Forest, but by
different paths, for it behooved them to be very crafty; so the band
separated into parties of twos and threes, which were all to meet again
in a tangled dell that lay near to Nottingham Town. Then, when they had
all gathered together at the place of meeting, Robin spoke to them thus:
"Now we will lie here in ambush until we can get news, for it doth
behoove us to be cunning and wary if we would bring our friend Will
Stutely off from the Sheriff's clutches."
So they lay hidden a long time, until the sun stood high in the sky. The
day was warm and the dusty road was bare of travelers, except an aged
palmer who walked slowly along the highroad that led close beside the
gray castle wall of Nottingham Town. When Robin saw that no other
wayfarer was within sight, he called young David of Doncaster, who was a
shrewd man for his years, and said to him, "Now get thee forth, young
David, and speak to yonder palmer that walks beside the town wall, for
he hath come but now from Nottingham Town, and may tell thee news of
good Stutely, perchance."
So David strode forth, and when he came up to the pilgrim, he saluted
him and said, "Good morrow, holy father, and canst thou tell me when
Will Stutely will be hanged upon the gallows tree? I fain would not miss
the sight, for I have come from afar to see so sturdy a rogue hanged."
"Now, out upon thee, young man," cried the Palmer, "that thou shouldst
speak so when a good stout man is to be hanged for nothing but guarding
his own life!" And he struck his staff upon the ground in anger.
"Alas, say I, that this thing should be! For even this day, toward
evening, when the sun falleth low, he shall be hanged, fourscore rods
from the great town gate of Nottingham, where three roads meet; for
there the Sheriff sweareth he shall die as a warning to all outlaws in
Nottinghamshire. But yet, I say again, Alas! For, though Robin Hood
and his band may be outlaws, yet he taketh only from the rich and the
strong and the dishonest man, while there is not a poor widow nor a
peasant with many children, nigh to Sherwood, but has barley flour
enough all the year long through him. It grieves my heart to see one as
gallant as this Stutely die, for I have been a good Saxon yeoman in my
day, ere I turned palmer, and well I know a stout hand and one that
smiteth shrewdly at a cruel Norman or a proud abbot with fat moneybags.
Had good Stutely's master but known how his man was compassed about with
perils, perchance he might send succor to bring him out of the hand of
his enemies.
"Ay, marry, that is true," cried the young man. "If Robin and his men
be nigh this place, I wot right well they will strive to bring him forth
from his peril. But fare thee well, thou good old man, and believe me,
if Will Stutely die, he shall be right well avenged."
Then he turned and strode rapidly away; but the Palmer looked after him,
muttering, "I wot that youth is no country hind that hath come to see a
good man die. Well, well, perchance Robin Hood is not so far away but
that there will be stout doings this day." So he went upon his way,
muttering to himself.
When David of Doncaster told Robin Hood what the Palmer had said to him,
Robin called the band around him and spoke to them thus:
"Now let us get straightway into Nottingham Town and mix ourselves with
the people there; but keep ye one another in sight, pressing as near the
prisoner and his guards as ye can, when they come outside the walls.
Strike no man without need, for I would fain avoid bloodshed, but if ye
do strike, strike hard, and see that there be no need to strike again.
Then keep all together until we come again to Sherwood, and let no man
leave his fellows."
The sun was low in the western sky when a bugle note sounded from the
castle wall. Then all was bustle in Nottingham Town and crowds filled
the streets, for all knew that the famous Will Stutely was to be hanged
that day. Presently the castle gates opened wide and a great array of
men-at-arms came forth with noise and clatter, the Sheriff, all clad in
shining mail of linked chain, riding at their head. In the midst of all
the guard, in a cart, with a halter about his neck, rode Will Stutely.
His face was pale with his wound and with loss of blood, like the moon
in broad daylight, and his fair hair was clotted in points upon his
forehead, where the blood had hardened. When he came forth from the
castle he looked up and he looked down, but though he saw some faces
that showed pity and some that showed friendliness, he saw none that he
knew. Then his heart sank within him like a plummet of lead, but
nevertheless he spoke up boldly.
"Give a sword into my hand, Sir Sheriff," said he, "and wounded man
though I be, I will fight thee and all thy men till life and strength be
gone."
"Nay, thou naughty varlet," quoth the Sheriff, turning his head and
looking right grimly upon Will Stutely, "thou shalt have no sword but
shall die a mean death, as beseemeth a vile thief like thee."
"Then do but untie my hands and I will fight thee and thy men with no
weapon but only my naked fists. I crave no weapon, but let me not be
meanly hanged this day."
Then the Sheriff laughed aloud. "Why, how now," quoth he, "is thy proud
stomach quailing? Shrive thyself, thou vile knave, for I mean that thou
shalt hang this day, and that where three roads meet, so that all men
shall see thee hang, for carrion crows and daws to peck at."
"O thou dastard heart!" cried Will Stutely, gnashing his teeth at the
Sheriff. "Thou coward hind! If ever my good master meet thee thou
shalt pay dearly for this day's work! He doth scorn thee, and so do all
brave hearts. Knowest thou not that thou and thy name are jests upon
the lips of every brave yeoman? Such a one as thou art, thou wretched
craven, will never be able to subdue bold Robin Hood."
"Ha!" cried the Sheriff in a rage, "is it even so? Am I a jest with thy
master, as thou callest him? Now I will make a jest of thee and a sorry
jest withal, for I will quarter thee limb from limb, after thou art
hanged." Then he spurred his horse forward and said no more to Stutely.
At last they came to the great town gate, through which Stutely saw the
fair country beyond, with hills and dales all clothed in verdure, and
far away the dusky line of Sherwood's skirts. Then when he saw the
slanting sunlight lying on field and fallow, shining redly here and
there on cot and farmhouse, and when he heard the sweet birds singing
their vespers, and the sheep bleating upon the hillside, and beheld the
swallows flying in the bright air, there came a great fullness to his
heart so that all things blurred to his sight through salt tears, and he
bowed his head lest the folk should think him unmanly when they saw the
tears in his eyes. Thus he kept his head bowed till they had passed
through the gate and were outside the walls of the town. But when he
looked up again he felt his heart leap within him and then stand still
for pure joy, for he saw the face of one of his own dear companions of
merry Sherwood; then glancing quickly around he saw well-known faces
upon all sides of him, crowding closely upon the men-at-arms who were
guarding him. Then of a sudden the blood sprang to his cheeks, for he
saw for a moment his own good master in the press and, seeing him, knew
that Robin Hood and all his band were there. Yet betwixt him and them
was a line of men-at-arms.
"Now, stand back!" cried the Sheriff in a mighty voice, for the crowd
pressed around on all sides. "What mean ye, varlets, that ye push upon
us so? Stand back, I say!"
Then came a bustle and a noise, and one strove to push between the men-
at-arms so as to reach the cart, and Stutely saw that it was Little John
that made all that stir.
"Now stand thou back!" cried one of the men-at-arms whom Little John
pushed with his elbows.
"Now stand thou back thine own self," quoth Little John, and straightway
smote the man a buffet beside his head that felled him as a butcher
fells an ox, and then he leaped to the cart where Stutely sat.
"I pray thee take leave of thy friends ere thou diest, Will," quoth he,
"or maybe I will die with thee if thou must die, for I could never have
better company." Then with one stroke he cut the bonds that bound the
other's arms and legs, and Stutely leaped straightway from the cart.
"Now as I live," cried the Sheriff, "yon varlet I know right well is a
sturdy rebel! Take him, I bid you all, and let him not go!"
So saying, he spurred his horse upon Little John, and rising in his
stirrups smote with might and main, but Little John ducked quickly
underneath the horse's belly and the blow whistled harmlessly over his
head.
"Nay, good Sir Sheriff," cried he, leaping up again when the blow had
passed, "I must e'en borrow thy most worshipful sword." Thereupon he
twitched the weapon deftly from out the Sheriff's hand, "Here, Stutely,"
he cried, "the Sheriff hath lent thee his sword! Back to back with me,
man, and defend thyself, for help is nigh!"
"Down with them!" bellowed the Sheriff in a voice like an angry bull;
and he spurred his horse upon the two who now stood back to back,
forgetting in his rage that he had no weapon with which to defend
himself.
"Stand back, Sheriff!" cried Little John; and even as he spoke, a bugle
horn sounded shrilly and a clothyard shaft whistled within an inch of
the Sheriff's head. Then came a swaying hither and thither, and oaths,
cries, and groans, and clashing of steel, and swords flashed in the
setting sun, and a score of arrows whistled through the air. And some
cried, "Help, help!" and some, "A rescue, a rescue!"
"Treason!" cried the Sheriff in a loud voice. "Bear back! Bear back!
Else we be all dead men!" Thereupon he reined his horse backward
through the thickest of the crowd.
Now Robin Hood and his band might have slain half of the Sheriff's men
had they desired to do so, but they let them push out of the press and
get them gone, only sending a bunch of arrows after them to hurry them
in their flight.
"Oh stay!" shouted Will Stutely after the Sheriff. "Thou wilt never
catch bold Robin Hood if thou dost not stand to meet him face to face."
But the Sheriff, bowing along his horse's back, made no answer but only
spurred the faster.
Then Will Stutely turned to Little John and looked him in the face till
the tears ran down from his eyes and he wept aloud; and kissing his
friend's cheeks, "O Little John!" quoth he, "mine own true friend, and
he that I love better than man or woman in all the world beside! Little
did I reckon to see thy face this day, or to meet thee this side
Paradise." Little John could make no answer, but wept also.
Then Robin Hood gathered his band together in a close rank, with Will