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006 - Robin Hood And The King · Story of Robin Hood

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six of the Story of robin Hood. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: The Story of robin Hood by Bertha evangelin Bush robin
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  Speaker 1: Hood and the King. I wish I could see robin Hood,
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  Speaker 1: said King Richard. I wish I could see him and
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  Speaker 1: his men shoot and wrestle and go through all the
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  Speaker 1: feats in which they have such wondrous skill. But if
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  Speaker 1: they heard that the King was coming, they would think
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  Speaker 1: it was only to arrest them, and they would flee
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  Speaker 1: deep into the forest, and I should never get a
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  Speaker 1: glimpse of them. King Richard spoke kindly, for he was
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  Speaker 1: a king who loved all manly sports and those who
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  Speaker 1: excelled in them. I would give a hundred pounds to
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  Speaker 1: see robin Hood and his men in the greenwood, he said.
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you how you can see him without a doubt,
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  Speaker 1: spoke up one of the King's trust companions with a laugh.
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  Speaker 1: Put on the robes of a fat abbot and ride
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  Speaker 1: through sherwood forest with the hundred pounds in your pouch,
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  Speaker 1: and you will be sure to see him and be
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  Speaker 1: feasted by him. I'll do it, cried bluff King Richard,
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  Speaker 1: slapping his knee. It will be a huge joke. So
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  Speaker 1: he and seven of his followers dressed themselves as an
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  Speaker 1: abbot and seven black friars, and rode out along the
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  Speaker 1: highway toward Sherwood Forest. Robin Hood and his men took
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  Speaker 1: them and brought them back to the Trystl Tree, and
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  Speaker 1: there they searched them and took the pouch of gold.
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  Speaker 1: But they gave half the gold back to the king,
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  Speaker 1: for it was not their custom to leave any man
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  Speaker 1: in need. They were pleased with these travelers because they
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  Speaker 1: did not resist nor rail at them. Now we shall
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  Speaker 1: give you a feast that will be worth fifty pounds,
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  Speaker 1: said Robin Hood. I have a good appetite for feast,
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  Speaker 1: said the pretended abbot. But even more do I desire
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  Speaker 1: to see the archery and wrestling, and play with the
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  Speaker 1: quarter staff, and all those things in which I am
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  Speaker 1: told you excel. You shall see the best we can do,
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  Speaker 1: answered robin Hood. But I pray you, Holy Father, lay
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  Speaker 1: aside your cow that you may enjoy the sweet evening air. No,
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  Speaker 1: answered the mock abbot. It may not be, for I
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  Speaker 1: and my brothers have vowed not to let our faces
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  Speaker 1: be seen during this journey. Very well, then said robin Hood,
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  Speaker 1: I interfere with no man's vows, and he never dreamed
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  Speaker 1: that it was the king. They gave them a splendid
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  Speaker 1: feast of roasted venison and pheasant, and fish and wild fowls,
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  Speaker 1: all done to a turn over the roaring fire, and
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  Speaker 1: the best of drink. Then they arranged the sport. The
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  Speaker 1: target was a garland of leaves and flowers that was
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  Speaker 1: hung sick score paces distant upon a stake. It was
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  Speaker 1: a mark that only the best of archers could hit
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  Speaker 1: at all. Now shoot, said robin Hood. You shall each
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  Speaker 1: have three shots, and every one who fails to place
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  Speaker 1: his arrows within the garland shall forfeit the arrow and
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  Speaker 1: receive beside a box on the side of the head
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  Speaker 1: as stout as can be given. Can any one hit
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  Speaker 1: inside that little garland at such a distance, asked the
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  Speaker 1: King in a maze, Look and see, said robin Hood proudly.
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  Speaker 1: First David of Doncaster shot and lodged all three arrows
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  Speaker 1: within the garland, while the King looked on, astonished. Then
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  Speaker 1: Midge the Miller's son, and he also placed all his
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  Speaker 1: arrows inside of the garland. Then wat the tinker drew
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  Speaker 1: his bow, but he was unlucky, for one of his
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  Speaker 1: arrows missed the mark by the breadth of two fingers.
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  Speaker 1: Come here and take your punishment. Robin Hood. The king
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  Speaker 1: supposed that since he had missed by so little, he
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  Speaker 1: would receive but a light tap. But he got a
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  Speaker 1: blow that knocked him spinning across the grass. Heels overhead
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  Speaker 1: ha ha, laughed his comrades, and oh, thought King Richard,
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  Speaker 1: I am glad I am not in this. But he
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  Speaker 1: was much impressed with the way robin Hood's men obeyed him.
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  Speaker 1: They are better to follow his commands than my servants
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  Speaker 1: are to follow mine, he thought. The shooting went on,
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  Speaker 1: and most of the men shot their arrows within the garland,
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  Speaker 1: but a few missed and received tremendous buffets. Last, robin
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  Speaker 1: Hood shot his first shaft split off a piece of
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  Speaker 1: the steak on which the garland was hung. His second
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  Speaker 1: lodged a scant inch from the first. But the last
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  Speaker 1: arrow he shot was feathered faultily and had swerved to
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  Speaker 1: one side and smote an inch outside of the garland.
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  Speaker 1: Then all the company roared with good natured laughter, for
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  Speaker 1: it was seldom indeed that they saw their master. Miss
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  Speaker 1: Go and take your punishment, master, said Midge, the miller's son.
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  Speaker 1: I hope it will be as heavy as watts, Well,
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  Speaker 1: said Robin Hood. I will forfeit my arrow to our
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  Speaker 1: guest and take my buffet from him. Now. The merry
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  Speaker 1: Robin was somewhat crafty in this, for though he did
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  Speaker 1: not mind hard knocks at all, he did not like
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  Speaker 1: the thought of being sent sprawling before his band. The
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  Speaker 1: hands of the churchmen were soft, and their strongest blows
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  Speaker 1: but feeble, for they did not work nor use their
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  Speaker 1: muscles much. But the pretended abbot bared an arm so
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  Speaker 1: stout and muscular that it made the yeomen stare. Robin
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  Speaker 1: Hood placed himself fairly in front of him, and he
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  Speaker 1: struck such a blow that would have felled an ox. Down.
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  Speaker 1: Went Robin Hood on the ground, rolling over and over,
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  Speaker 1: and his men fairly shouted with laughter. Well said Robin Hood,
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  Speaker 1: sitting up half dazed, I did not think that there
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  Speaker 1: was an arm in England that could strike such a blow.
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  Speaker 1: Who are you, man, I'll warrant you are no churchmen?
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  Speaker 1: As you seem. Then Richard threw his cowl, and Robin
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  Speaker 1: knew his king if he had been a disloyal man
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  Speaker 1: as well as an outlaw, he would have trembled then.
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  Speaker 1: But though he knelt at the King's feet and signaled
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  Speaker 1: all his men to kneel, his voice was not ashamed,
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  Speaker 1: your majesty, He said, you have no subjects in all
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  Speaker 1: England more loyal to you than I and my merry men.
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  Speaker 1: We have done no evil except to certain of the
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  Speaker 1: greedy and rich who oppressed your subjects. We crave your
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  Speaker 1: pardon if we have done wrong, and we beg for
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  Speaker 1: your protection and swear that we will ever serve you faithfully.
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  Speaker 1: Then the King looked down in amazement that an outlaw
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  Speaker 1: should speak so. But he knew men, and he knew
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  Speaker 1: what people said of Robin Hood, and he knew too
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  Speaker 1: that he was the best archer in all England, and
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  Speaker 1: he wanted him in his own train. I will forgive
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  Speaker 1: all your law breaking, he said, if you will come
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  Speaker 1: with me to my court and serve me. There. You
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  Speaker 1: shall take little John and will Scarlett, and Allandale, who
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  Speaker 1: is the sweetest singer I ever heard, and the rest
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  Speaker 1: of your men I will make into royal rangers, since
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  Speaker 1: I judge they can protect sherwood forest better than any others.
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  Speaker 1: So robin Hood left the Greenwood and went to the
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  Speaker 1: King's court, and he served King Richard well, but he
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  Speaker 1: did not like the confinement of the court and could
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  Speaker 1: not abide the gaieties and jealousies of the courtiers. After
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  Speaker 1: King Richard died, his brother John took the throne, and
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  Speaker 1: he was one of the worst kings that ever ruled England.
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  Speaker 1: Then robin Hood went back to the forest and his
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  Speaker 1: merry men gathered around him once more, and again they
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  Speaker 1: became outlaws, and there in the forest he lived till
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  Speaker 1: he died end of Chapter six