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Now the Sheriff of Nottingham swore that he himself would
bring this knave Robin Hood to justice, and for two reasons:

first, because he wanted the two hundred pounds, and next,
because the forester that Robin Hood had killed was of kin to him.

But Robin Hood lay hidden in Sherwood Forest for one year,
and in that time there gathered around him many others like himself,

cast out from other folk for this cause and for that.
Some had shot deer in hungry wintertime, when they could get

no other food, and had been seen in the act by the foresters,
but had escaped, thus saving their ears; some had been turned

out of their inheritance, that their farms might be added
to the King's lands in Sherwood Forest; some had been despoiled

by a great baron or a rich abbot or a powerful esquire--
all, for one cause or another, had come to Sherwood to escape

wrong and oppression.
So, in all that year, fivescore or more good stout yeomen gathered

about Robin Hood, and chose him to be their leader and chief.
Then they vowed that even as they themselves had been despoiled they

would despoil their oppressors, whether baron, abbot, knight, or squire,
and that from each they would take that which had been wrung from

the poor by unjust taxes, or land rents, or in wrongful fines.
But to the poor folk they would give a helping hand in need and trouble,

and would return to them that which had been unjustly taken from them.
Besides this, they swore never to harm a child nor to wrong a woman,

be she maid, wife, or widow; so that, after a while, when the people
began to find that no harm was meant to them, but that money or food

came in time of want to many a poor family, they came to praise Robin
and his merry men, and to tell many tales of him and of his doings

in Sherwood Forest, for they felt him to be one of themselves.
Up rose Robin Hood one merry morn when all the birds were singing blithely

among the leaves, and up rose all his merry men, each fellow washing his head
and hands in the cold brown brook that leaped laughing from stone to stone.

Then said Robin, "For fourteen days have we seen no sport, so now I
will go abroad to seek adventures forthwith. But tarry ye, my merry

men all, here in the greenwood; only see that ye mind well my call.
Three blasts upon the bugle horn I will blow in my hour of need;

then come quickly, for I shall want your aid."
So saying, he strode away through the leafy forest glades until he had

come to the verge of Sherwood. There he wandered for a long time,
through highway and byway, through dingly dell and forest skirts.

Now he met a fair buxom lass in a shady lane, and each gave the other
a merry word and passed their way; now he saw a fair lady upon an

ambling pad, to whom he doffed his cap, and who bowed sedately in return
to the fair youth; now he saw a fat monk on a pannier-laden ass;

now a gallantknight, with spear and shield and armor that flashed
brightly in the sunlight; now a page clad in crimson; and now a stout

burgher from good Nottingham Town, pacing along with serious footsteps;
all these sights he saw, but adventure found he none. At last he took

a road by the forest skirts, a bypath that dipped toward a broad,
pebbly stream spanned by a narrow bridge made of a log of wood. As he drew

nigh this bridge he saw a tall stranger coming from the other side.
Thereupon Robin quickened his pace, as did the stranger likewise,

each thinking to cross first.
"Now stand thou back," quoth Robin, "and let the better man cross first."

"Nay," answered the stranger, "then stand back shine own self,
for the better man, I wet, am I."

"That will we presently see," quoth Robin, "and meanwhile stand thou
where thou art, or else, by the bright brow of Saint AElfrida, I will show

thee right good Nottingham play with a clothyard shaft betwixt thy ribs."
"Now," quoth the stranger, "I will tan thy hide till it be as many colors

as a beggar's cloak, if thou darest so much as touch a string of that same bow
that thou holdest in thy hands."

"Thou pratest like an ass," said Robin, "for I could send this
shaft clean through thy proud heart before a curtal friar could

say grace over a roast goose at Michaelmastide."
"And thou pratest like a coward," answered the stranger,

"for thou standest there with a good yew bow to shoot at my heart,
while I have nought in my hand but a plain blackthorn staff

wherewith to meet thee."
"Now," quoth Robin, "by the faith of my heart, never have I had a coward's

name in all my life before. I will lay by my trusty bow and eke my arrows,
and if thou darest abide my coming, I will go and cut a cudgel to test

thy manhood withal."
"Ay, marry, that will I abide thy coming, and joyously, too,"

quoth the stranger; whereupon he leaned sturdily upon his staff
to await Robin.

Then Robin Hood stepped quickly to the coverside and cut a good
staff of ground oak, straight, without new, and six feet in length,

and came back trimming away the tender stems from it, while the stranger
waited for him, leaning upon his staff, and whistling as he gazed

round about. Robin observed him furtively as he trimmed his staff,
measuring him from top to toe from out the corner of his eye,

and thought that he had never seen a lustier or a stouter man.
Tall was Robin, but taller was the stranger by a head and a neck,

for he was seven feet in height. Broad was Robin across the shoulders,
but broader was the stranger by twice the breadth of a palm,

while he measured at least an ell around the waist.
"Nevertheless," said Robin to himself, "I will baste thy hide right merrily,

my good fellow"; then, aloud, "Lo, here is my good staff, lusty and tough.
Now wait my coming, an thou darest, and meet me an thou fearest not.

Then we will fight until one or the other of us tumble into the stream
by dint of blows."

"Marry, that meeteth my whole heart!" cried the stranger,
twirling his staff above his head, betwixt his fingers and thumb,

until it whistled again.
Never did the Knights of Arthur's Round Table meet in a stouter

fight than did these two. In a moment Robin stepped quickly
upon the bridge where the stranger stood; first he made a feint,

and then delivered a blow at the stranger's head that, had it
met its mark, would have tumbled him speedily into the water.

But the stranger turned the blow right deftly and in return gave
one as stout, which Robin also turned as the stranger had done.

So they stood, each in his place, neither moving a finger's-breadth back,
for one good hour, and many blows were given and received by each in

that time, till here and there were sore bones and bumps, yet neither
thought of crying "Enough," nor seemed likely to fall from off the bridge.

Now and then they stopped to rest, and each thought that he never
had seen in all his life before such a hand at quarterstaff.

At last Robin gave the stranger a blow upon the ribs that made his jacket
smoke like a damp straw thatch in the sun. So shrewd was the stroke

that the stranger came within a hair's-breadth of falling off the bridge,
but he regained himself right quickly and, by a dexterous blow,

gave Robin a crack on the crown that caused the blood to flow.
Then Robin grew mad with anger and smote with all his might at the other.

But the stranger warded the blow and once again thwacked Robin,
and this time so fairly that he fell heels over head into the water,

as the queen pin falls in a game of bowls.
"And where art thou now, my good lad?" shouted the stranger,

roaring with laughter.
"Oh, in the flood and floating adown with the tide," cried Robin,

nor could he forbear laughing himself at his sorry plight.
Then, gaining his feet, he waded to the bank, the little fish

speeding hither and thither, all frightened at his splashing.
"Give me thy hand," cried he, when he had reached the bank.

"I must needs own thou art a brave and a sturdy soul and, withal,
a good stout stroke with the cudgels. By this and by that,

my head hummeth like to a hive of bees on a hot June day."
Then he clapped his horn to his lips and winded a blast

that went echoing sweetly down the forest paths. "Ay, marry,"
quoth he again, "thou art a tall lad, and eke a brave one,

for ne'er, I bow, is there a man betwixt here and Canterbury Town
could do the like to me that thou hast done."

"And thou," quoth the stranger, laughing, "takest thy cudgeling
like a brave heart and a stout yeoman."

But now the distant twigs and branches rustled with the coming of men,
and suddenly a score or two of good stout yeomen, all clad in Lincoln green,

burst from out the covert, with merry Will Stutely at their head.
"Good master," cried Will, "how is this? Truly thou art all wet

from head to foot, and that to the very skin."
"Why, marry," answered jolly Robin, "yon stout fellow hath tumbled me

neck and crop into the water and hath given me a drubbing beside."
"Then shall he not go without a ducking and eke a drubbing himself!"

cried Will Stutely. "Have at him, lads!"
Then Will and a score of yeomen leaped upon the stranger,

but though they sprang quickly they found him ready and felt
him strike right and left with his stout staff, so that,

though he went down with press of numbers, some of them rubbed
cracked crowns before he was overcome.

"Nay, forbear!" cried Robin, laughing until his sore sides ached again.
"He is a right good man and true, and no harm shall befall him.

Now hark ye, good youth, wilt thou stay with me and be one of my band?
Three suits of Lincoln green shalt thou have each year, beside forty

marks in fee, and share with us whatsoever good shall befall us.
Thou shalt eat sweet venison and quaff the stoutest ale, and mine own

good right-hand man shalt thou be, for never did I see such a cudgel player
in all my life before. Speak! Wilt thou be one of my good merry men?"

"That know I not," quoth the stranger surlily, for he was angry at being
so tumbled about. "If ye handle yew bow and apple shaft no better than ye

do oaken cudgel, I wot ye are not fit to be called yeomen in my country;
but if there be any man here that can shoot a better shaft than I,

then will I bethink me of joining with you."
"Now by my faith," said Robin, "thou art a right saucy varlet, sirrah;

yet I will stoop to thee as I never stooped to man before.
Good Stutely, cut thou a fair white piece of bark four fingers

in breadth, and set it fourscore yards distant on yonder oak.
Now, stranger, hit that fairly with a gray goose shaft and call

thyself an archer."
"Ay, marry, that will I," answered he. "Give me a good stout bow

and a fair broad arrow, and if I hit it not, strip me and beat me
blue with bowstrings."

Then he chose the stoutest bow among them all, next to Robin's own,
and a straight gray goose shaft, well-feathered and smooth,

and stepping to the mark--while all the band, sitting or lying
upon the greensward, watched to see him shoot--he drew the arrow

to his cheek and loosed the shaft right deftly, sending it so
straight down the path that it clove the mark in the very center.

"Aha!" cried he, "mend thou that if thou canst"; while even
the yeomen clapped their hands at so fair a shot.

"That is a keen shot indeed," quoth Robin. "Mend it I cannot,
but mar it I may, perhaps."

Then taking up his own good stout bow and nocking an arrow with care,
he shot with his very greatest skill. Straight flew the arrow, and so true

that it lit fairly upon the stranger's shaft and split it into splinters.
Then all the yeomen leaped to their feet and shouted for joy that their

master had shot so well.
"Now by the lusty yew bow of good Saint Withold," cried the stranger,

"that is a shot indeed, and never saw I the like in all my life before!
Now truly will I be thy man henceforth and for aye. Good Adam Bell[1]

was a fair shot, but never shot he so!"
[1] Adam Bell, Clym o' the Clough, and William of Cloudesly

were three noted north-country bowmen whose names have been
celebrated in many ballads of the olden time.

"Then have I gained a right good man this day," quoth jolly Robin. "What name
goest thou by, good fellow?"

"Men call me John Little whence I came," answered the stranger.
Then Will Stutely, who loved a good jest, spoke up.

"Nay, fair little stranger," said he, "I like not thy name
and fain would I have it otherwise. Little art thou indeed,

and small of bone and sinew, therefore shalt thou be christened
Little John, and I will be thy godfather."

Then Robin Hood and all his band laughed aloud until the stranger


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