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002 - Winning The Sheriff's Golden Arrow · Story of Robin Hood

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  Speaker 1: Chapter two 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 ought to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: The Story of Robin Hood by Bertha Evangeline Bush winning
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  Speaker 1: the Sheriff's Golden Arrow. It was very pleasant in Sherwood
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  Speaker 1: Forest to those who did not fear hardship, and Robin
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  Speaker 1: Hood and his men came to love every tree that
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  Speaker 1: grew and every bird that sang there. They did not
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  Speaker 1: mind that they had no houses to live in. They
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  Speaker 1: made themselves shelters of bark and logs to keep the
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  Speaker 1: rain off, and mostly they stayed in the open. They
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  Speaker 1: did not sigh for soft beds or fine tables and furnishings.
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  Speaker 1: They put down rushes and spread deer skins over them
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  Speaker 1: to lie on and slip under the stars. They cooked
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  Speaker 1: over a great fire built beside a big tree, and
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  Speaker 1: they sat and ate on the ground. More than a
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  Speaker 1: hundred men were in Robin Hood's band. Every one was
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  Speaker 1: devoted to him and obeyed his slightest word. They were
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  Speaker 1: the best archers, the best wrestlers, the best runners, and
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  Speaker 1: the best wielders. Of cudgel and quarter staff in all
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  Speaker 1: the country, and they grew better continually, for they practiced
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  Speaker 1: these things every day. Robin Hood was the best archer
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  Speaker 1: in all the land. Even the King had heard of
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  Speaker 1: his wonderful marksmanship, and even though he knew him an outlaw,
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  Speaker 1: he had an admiring and almost kindly feeling for this
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  Speaker 1: bold outlaw who shot so marvelously well. But the greedy
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  Speaker 1: lords and churchmen who oppressed the people hated Robin Hood,
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  Speaker 1: and the Sheriff of Nottingham hated him most of all,
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  Speaker 1: and wish above all things to hang him on the gallows.
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  Speaker 1: He was a cruel, hard man with no kindness in
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  Speaker 1: his bosom, and all his spite was turned against Robin Hood,
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  Speaker 1: because every time that he tried to catch him, Robin
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  Speaker 1: outwitted him. Now he was especially angered, for he had
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  Speaker 1: sent a messenger with a warrant to take Robin Hood,
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  Speaker 1: and the merry Robin had met the messenger and feasted him,
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  Speaker 1: and then, while he was asleep after the feast, stolen
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  Speaker 1: the very warrant out of his pocket, so that he
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  Speaker 1: had to go back to the Sheriff without man or
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  Speaker 1: warrant either. So the Sheriff of Nottingham used all his
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  Speaker 1: wits to get another plan to take Robin Hood. It
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  Speaker 1: was plainly of no use to send men, no matter
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  Speaker 1: how stout, with warrants after him. He must be coaxed
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  Speaker 1: into their clutches. I have it, said the Sheriff of
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  Speaker 1: Nottingham at last, with a very sour look on his
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  Speaker 1: grim face. I'll catch him by craft. I'll proclaim a
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  Speaker 1: great archery festival and get all the best archers in
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  Speaker 1: England to come here to shoot. I'll offer for the
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  Speaker 1: prize an arrow of beaten gold that will be short
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  Speaker 1: to fetch Robin Hood and his men here, and then
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  Speaker 1: I'll catch them and hang them. Now, Robin Hood and
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  Speaker 1: his men did come to the archery contest, but they
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  Speaker 1: did not come in the suits of Lincoln Green that
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  Speaker 1: they wore as men of the forest. Each man dressed
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  Speaker 1: himself up to seem somebody else. Some appeared as barefoot friars,
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  Speaker 1: some as traveling tinkers or tradesmen, some as beggars, and
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  Speaker 1: some as rustic peasants. Robin Hood was the hardest to
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  Speaker 1: recognize of all. Don't go, master, his men had begged.
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  Speaker 1: This archery contest is just a trap to catch you.
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  Speaker 1: The Sheriff of Nottingha and his men will be looking
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  Speaker 1: for you, and they will know you by your hair
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  Speaker 1: and eyes, and face and height, even if you wear
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  Speaker 1: different clothes. The Sheriff has made this festival just to
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  Speaker 1: lure you to death. Don't go, But Robin Hood laughed merrily.
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  Speaker 1: Why as to my yellow hair, I can stain that
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  Speaker 1: with walnut stain. As to my eyes, I can cover
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  Speaker 1: one of them with a patch, and then my face
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  Speaker 1: will not be recognized. I would scorn to be afraid.
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  Speaker 1: And if an adventure is somewhat dangerous, I like it
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  Speaker 1: all the better. So Robin Hood went clad from top
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  Speaker 1: to toe in tattered scarlet, the raggedest beggar man that
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  Speaker 1: had ever been seen in Nottingham. The field where the
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  Speaker 1: contest was to be held was a splendid sight. Rows
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  Speaker 1: and rows of benches had been built on it for
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  Speaker 1: the gentle folk to sit on, and they wore their
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  Speaker 1: best clothes and were gayer than birds of paradise. As
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  Speaker 1: for the sheriff and his wife, they wore velvet, the
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  Speaker 1: Sheriff purple, and his lady blue. Their rich garments were
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  Speaker 1: trimmed with ermine. They wore broad gold chains around their necks,
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  Speaker 1: and the sheriff had shoes with wondrously pointed toes that
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  Speaker 1: were fastened to his gold embroidered garters by golden chains. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: they were dressed very splendidly, and if their faces had
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  Speaker 1: been kind, they would have looked beautiful. But their faces
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  Speaker 1: were full of pride and hate. The sheriff was looking
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  Speaker 1: everywhere with spitral glances for robin Hood, and very cross
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  Speaker 1: he was that he did not see Robin there. But
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  Speaker 1: Robin was there, though the sheriff did not see him.
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  Speaker 1: There he stood in his ragged beggars garments, not ten
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  Speaker 1: feet away from the sheriff. The targets were placed eighty
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  Speaker 1: yards from where the archers were to stand. Pace that
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  Speaker 1: off and see what a great distance it is. There
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  Speaker 1: were a great number of archers to shoot, and each
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  Speaker 1: was to have one shot. Then the ten who shot
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  Speaker 1: best were to shoot two arrows each, and the three
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  Speaker 1: who shot best out of the ten were to shoot
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  Speaker 1: three arrows apiece. The one who came nearest to the
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  Speaker 1: center of the target was to get a prize. The
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  Speaker 1: sheriff looked glowingly at the ten. I was sure that
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  Speaker 1: robin Hood would be among them. He said to the
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  Speaker 1: man at arms at his side, Could no one of
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  Speaker 1: these ten be robin Hood in disguise? No, answered the
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  Speaker 1: man at arms. Six of these I know well. They
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  Speaker 1: are the best archers in England. There is Jill of
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  Speaker 1: the red Cap, Dickon Crookshank, Adam of the Dell, William
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  Speaker 1: A Leslie, Hubert a Cloud, and swither up Hartford. Of
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  Speaker 1: the four beside, one is too tall, and one too short,
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  Speaker 1: and one not broad shouldered enough to be robin Hood,
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  Speaker 1: there remains only this ragged beggar, and his hair and
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  Speaker 1: beard are much too dark to be robin Hood's. And
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  Speaker 1: beside he is blind in one eye. Robin Hood is
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  Speaker 1: safe in Sherwood forest. Even as he spoke, the man
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  Speaker 1: at arms was glad, for he was but a common soldier,
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  Speaker 1: and he loved robin Hood and wished no harm to
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  Speaker 1: come to him. One reason why robin Hood got away
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  Speaker 1: from the sheriff so many times was that the common people,
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  Speaker 1: even among the sheriff's own men, were friendly to him
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  Speaker 1: and helped him all they could. The gate keepers shut
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  Speaker 1: their eyes when robin Hood went through the gates, that
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  Speaker 1: they might say they had not seen him enter. Hardly
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  Speaker 1: any one would betray him, and many, when they knew
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  Speaker 1: of evil being planned against him, sent warning to him.
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  Speaker 1: But even the man at arms who loved him did
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  Speaker 1: not recognize robin Hood. To day, the ten made wonderful shots.
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  Speaker 1: Not one arrow failed to come within the circles that
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  Speaker 1: surrounded the center. But when the three shot, it was
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  Speaker 1: more wonderful still. Jill of the Red CAP's first arrow
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  Speaker 1: struck only a finger's breadth from the center, and his
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  Speaker 1: second was nearer still. But the Beggar's arrow struck in
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  Speaker 1: the very center. Adam of Thedell, who had one more shot,
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  Speaker 1: unstrung his bow when he saw it. Four score years
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  Speaker 1: and more have I shot shaft and beaten many competitors,
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  Speaker 1: but I can never better that, he said. The prize
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  Speaker 1: of the golden arrow belonged to the tattered beggar, but
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  Speaker 1: the Sheriff's face was very sour as he gave it
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  Speaker 1: to him. He tried to induce him to enter his service,
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  Speaker 1: promising great wages. You are the best archer I have
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  Speaker 1: ever seen, he said, I trow you shoot even better
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  Speaker 1: than that rascaline coward of a robin Hood who dared
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  Speaker 1: not show his face here to day? Will you join
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  Speaker 1: my service? No, I will not, answered the scarlet clad stranger.
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  Speaker 1: And then the sheriff looked at him so spitefully that
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  Speaker 1: he knew it was well to get away. As he
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  Speaker 1: walked toward Sherwood forest, the Sheriff's words rankled. I cannot
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  Speaker 1: bear to have even my enemy think that I am
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  Speaker 1: a coward, he said to little John. I wish there
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  Speaker 1: was a way to tell the sheriff that it was
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  Speaker 1: Robin Hood that won his golden arrow. And they found
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  Speaker 1: a way. That evening. The sheriff sat at supper, and
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  Speaker 1: though the supper was a fine one, his face was gloomy.
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  Speaker 1: I thought I could catch that rascal, Robin Hood by
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  Speaker 1: means of this artery contest, he said to his wife.
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  Speaker 1: But he was too much of a coward to show
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  Speaker 1: his face here. Just then something came through the window
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  Speaker 1: and fell rattling among the dishes on the table. It
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  Speaker 1: was a blunted gray goose quill with a bit of
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  Speaker 1: writing tied to it. The sheriff unfolded the writing. It
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  Speaker 1: told that it was Robin Hood who had won the
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  Speaker 1: golden arrow. When the sheriff read it, even his wife
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  Speaker 1: thought best to slip away, for he was the crossest
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  Speaker 1: man in Nottingham. End of chapter two