I would rather hear thee sing a song of love and battle than a sad
thing like that. Moreover, I understand it not; what meanest thou
by the words?"
"I know not, Your Majesty," said Allan, shaking his head,
"for ofttimes I sing that which I do not clearly understand
mine own self."
"Well, well," quoth the King, "let it pass; only I tell thee this, Allan,
thou shouldst turn thy songs to such matters as I spoke of, to wit,
love or war; for in sooth thou hast a sweeter voice than Blondell,
and
methought he was the best
minstrel that ever I heard."
But now one came forward and said that the feast was ready; so Robin Hood
brought King Richard and those with him to where it lay all spread
out on fair white linen cloths which lay upon the soft green grass.
Then King Richard sat him down and feasted and drank, and when he was
done he swore roundly that he had never sat at such a lusty repast
in all his life before.
That night he lay in Sherwood Forest upon a bed of sweet green leaves,
and early the next morning he set forth from the
woodlands for
Nottingham Town, Robin Hood and all of his band going with him.
You may guess what a stir there was in the good town when
all these famous outlaws came marching into the streets.
As for the Sheriff, he knew not what to say nor where to look
when he saw Robin Hood in such high favor with the King,
while all his heart was filled with gall because of the vexation
that lay upon him.
The next day the King took leave of Nottingham Town; so Robin Hood
and Little John and Will Scarlet and Allan a Dale shook hands
with all the rest of the band, kissing the cheeks of each man,
and swearing that they would often come to Sherwood and see them.
Then each mounted his horse and rode away in the train of the King.
Epilogue
THUS END the Merry Adventures of Robin Hood; for, in spite of his promise,
it was many a year ere he saw Sherwood again.
After a year or two at court Little John came back to Nottinghamshire,
where he lived in an
orderly way, though within sight of Sherwood,
and where he achieved great fame as the
champion of all England with
the quarterstaff. Will Scarlet after a time came back to his own home,
whence he had been
driven by his
unlucky killing of his father's steward.
The rest of the band did their duty as royal rangers right well.
But Robin Hood and Allan a Dale did not come again to Sherwood so quickly,
for thus it was:
Robin, through his great fame as an
archer, became a favorite with the King,
so that he
speedily rose in rank to be the chief of all the yeomen.
At last the King,
seeing how
faithful and how loyal he was, created him
Earl of Huntingdon; so Robin followed the King to the wars, and found
his time so full that he had no chance to come back to Sherwood for even
so much as a day. As for Allan a Dale and his wife, the fair Ellen,
they followed Robin Hood and shared in all his ups and downs of life.
And now, dear friend, you who have journeyed with me in all
these merry
doings, I will not bid you follow me further,
but will drop your hand here with a "good den," if you wish it;
for that which cometh
hereafter speaks of the breaking up
of things, and shows how joys and pleasures that are dead
and gone can never be set upon their feet to walk again.
I will not dwell upon the matter overlong, but will tell
as
speedily as may be of how that stout fellow, Robin Hood,
died as he had lived, not at court as Earl of Huntingdon,
but with bow in hand, his heart in the
greenwood, and he himself
a right yeoman.
King Richard died upon the
battlefield, in such a way as
properly became
a lion-hearted king, as you yourself, no doubt, know; so, after a time,
the Earl of Huntingdon--or Robin Hood, as we still call him as of old--
finding nothing for his doing
abroad, came back to merry England again.
With him came Allan a Dale and his wife, the fair Ellen, for these two had
been chief of Robin's household ever since he had left Sherwood Forest.
It was in the
springtime when they landed once more on the shores
of England. The leaves were green and the small birds sang blithely,
just as they used to do in fair Sherwood when Robin Hood roamed
the
woodland shades with a free heart and a light heel.
All the
sweetness of the time and the joyousness of everything
brought back to Robin's mind his forest life, so that a great
longing came upon him to behold the
woodlands once more.
So he went
straightway to King John and
besought leave of him
to visit Nottingham for a short season. The King gave him leave
to come and to go, but bade him not stay longer than three days
at Sherwood. So Robin Hood and Allan a Dale set forth without
delay to Nottinghamshire and Sherwood Forest.
The first night they took up their inn at Nottingham Town,
yet they did not go to pay their duty to the Sheriff,
for his
worship bore many a bitter
grudge against Robin Hood,
which
grudges had not been lessened by Robin's rise in the world.
The next day at an early hour they mounted their horses and set forth
for the
woodlands. As they passed along the road it seemed to Robin
that he knew every stick and stone that his eyes looked upon.
Yonder was a path that he had ofttimes trod of a
mellow evening,
with Little John beside him; here was one, now nigh choked
with brambles, along which he and a little band had walked
when they went forth to seek a certain curtal friar.
Thus they rode slowly
onward, talking about these old, familiar things;
old and yet new, for they found more in them than they had ever thought
of before. Thus at last they came to the open glade, and the broad,
wide-spreading
greenwood tree which was their home for so many years.
Neither of the two spoke when they stood beneath that tree.
Robin looked all about him at the
well-known things, so like what they
used to be and yet so different; for, where once was the
bustle of many
busy fellows was now the quietness of
solitude; and, as he looked,
the
woodlands, the greensward, and the sky all blurred together in his sight
through salt tears, for such a great yearning came upon him as he looked
on these things (as well known to him as the fingers of his right hand)
that he could not keep back the water from his eyes.
That morning he had slung his good old bugle horn over his shoulder, and now,
with the yearning, came a great
longing to sound his bugle once more.
He raised it to his lips; he blew a blast. "Tirila, lirila,"
the sweet, clear notes went winding down the forest paths, coming back
again from the more distant bosky shades in faint echoes of sound,
"Tirila, lirila, tirila, lirila," until it faded away and was lost.
Now it chanced that on that very morn Little John was walking
through a spur of the forest upon certain matters of business,
and as he paced along, sunk in
meditation, the faint,
clear notes of a distant bugle horn came to his ear.
As leaps the stag when it feels the arrow at its heart,
so leaped Little John when that distant sound met his ear.
All the blood in his body seemed to rush like a flame into
his cheeks as he bent his head and listened. Again came
the bugle note, thin and clear, and yet again it sounded.
Then Little John gave a great, wild cry of yearning, of joy, and yet
of grief, and, putting down his head, he dashed into the thicket.
Onward he plunged, crackling and rending, as the wild boar
rushes through the
underbrush. Little recked he of thorns
and briers that scratched his flesh and tore his clothing,
for all he thought of was to get, by the shortest way,
to the
greenwood glade
whence he knew the sound of the bugle
horn came. Out he burst from the
covert, at last, a shower
of little broken twigs falling about him, and, without pausing
a moment, rushed forward and flung himself at Robin's feet.
Then he clasped his arms around the master's knees, and all
his body was
shaken with great sobs; neither could Robin nor
Allan a Dale speak, but stood looking down at Little John,
the tears rolling down their cheeks.
While they thus stood, seven royal rangers rushed into the open
glade and raised a great shout of joy at the sight of Robin;
and at their head was Will Stutely. Then, after a while,
came four more, panting with their
running, and two of
these four were Will Scathelock and Midge, the Miller;
for all of these had heard the sound of Robin Hood's horn.
All these ran to Robin and kissed his hands and his clothing,
with great sound of weeping.
After a while Robin looked around him with tear-dimmed eyes and said,
in a husky voice, "Now, I swear that never again will I leave these
dear
woodlands. I have been away from them and from you too long.
Now do I lay by the name of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon, and take upon me
once again that nobler title, Robin Hood, the Yeoman." At this a great
shout went up, and all the yeomen shook one another's hands for joy.
The news that Robin Hood had come back again to dwell in Sherwood as of old
spread like wildfire all over the
countryside, so that ere a se'ennight
had passed nearly all of his old yeomen had gathered about him again.
But when the news of all this reached the ears of King John,
he swore both loud and deep, and took a
solemn vow that he would
not rest until he had Robin Hood in his power, dead or alive.
Now there was present at court a certain
knight, Sir William Dale,
as
gallant a soldier as ever donned
harness. Sir William Dale
was well acquainted with Sherwood Forest, for he was head keeper
over that part of it that lay nigh to good Mansfield Town; so to him
the King turned, and bade him take an army of men and go
straightwayto seek Robin Hood. Likewise the King gave Sir William his signet ring
to show to the Sheriff, that he might raise all his armed men to aid
the others in their chase of Robin. So Sir William and the Sheriff
set forth to do the King's bidding and to search for Robin Hood;
and for seven days they hunted up and down, yet found him not.
Now, had Robin Hood been as
peaceful as of old, everything might have ended
in smoke, as other such ventures had always done before; but he had fought
for years under King Richard, and was changed from what he used to be.
It galled his pride to thus flee away before those sent against him,
as a chased fox flees from the hounds; so thus it came about, at last,
that Robin Hood and his yeomen met Sir William and the Sheriff and their
men in the forest, and a
bloody fight followed. The first man slain
in that fight was the Sheriff of Nottingham, for he fell from his horse
with an arrow in his brain ere half a score of shafts had been sped.
Many a better man than the Sheriff kissed the sod that day, but at last,
Sir William Dale being wounded and most of his men slain, he
withdrew,
beaten,
and left the forest. But scores of good fellows were left behind him,
stretched out all stiff beneath the sweet green boughs.
But though Robin Hood had
beaten off his enemies in fair fight,
all this lay heavily upon his mind, so that he brooded over it
until a fever seized upon him. For three days it held him,
and though he
strove to fight it off, he was forced to yield at last.
Thus it came that, on the morning of the fourth day, he called Little John
to him, and told him that he could not shake the fever from him,
and that he would go to his cousin, the prioress of the nunnery
near Kirklees, in Yorkshire, who was a
skillful leech, and he would
have her open a vein in his arm and take a little blood from him,
for the bettering of his health. Then he bade Little John make ready
to go also, for he might
perchance need aid in his journeying.
So Little John and he took their leave of the others, and Robin Hood bade
Will Stutely be the captain of the band until they should come back.
Thus they came by easy stages and slow journeying until they reached
the Nunnery of Kirklees.
Now Robin had done much to aid this cousin of his; for it was through
King Richard's love of him that she had been made prioress of the place.
But there is
nought in the world so easily forgot as gratitude;
so, when the Prioress of Kirklees had heard how her cousin,
the Earl of Huntingdon, had thrown away his earldom and gone back
again to Sherwood, she was vexed to the soul, and feared lest her
cousinship with him should bring the King's wrath upon her also.
Thus it happened that when Robin came to her and told her how he wished
her services as leech, she began plotting ill against him in her mind,
thinking that by doing evil to him she might find favor with his enemies.
Nevertheless, she kept this well to herself and received Robin
with
seeming kindness. She led him up the winding stone stair
to a room which was just beneath the eaves of a high, round tower;
but she would not let Little John come with him.