The Adventures of Robin Hood

Years later, as King Richard, Coeur de Lion, is away on a holy crusade, his brother Prince John takes advantage of his absence to extort money from wealthy individuals. His scheme is to find a fault in the person and declare them an outlaw so that he can seize their assets and wealth. Many nobles and other people of power join him in his endeavors to line their own pockets, including members of the church and authorities like the Sheriff of Nottingham. When John visits a small town by Sherwood Forest, he finds the very same sheriff dealing out a punishment to a serf, Much, the Miller, for having killed one of the King’s deer to feed himself and his family. Much begs for his life and the sanctity of his body, but Prince John wants to use him as bait for Robin Hood, the so-called Good Spirit of Sherwood. Much manages to escape, but Worman, the steward of Robert Fitzooth, Earl of Huntingdon, kills him. Prince John takes issue with Robert and his use of the Earl of Huntingdon title. Though it was once a Saxon title, it had been reappropriated for a Norman family, and only the serfs still recognized Robert Fitzooth as an Earl. As Worman betrays Robert and tells Prince John that Robert is loyal to King Richard, together they concoct a plan to make him an outlaw and take his wealth. Will Scarlet, a servant of Robert’s, comes to deliver food when they leave, as it is known that the Sheriff typically leaves people in misery when he visits the townspeople. When he sees the arrow that killed Much, Will Scarlet suspects something is afoot and takes Much’s son with him as he returns to Robin’s manor.

Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham infiltrate Locksley Hall during Robert and Marian’s pre-wedding feast. As they watch, the company in the hall keeps to Saxon traditions and drinks to Robert and Richard’s health. When they see Much’s son in the hall, they figure out that Robert Fitzooth is, in fact, Robin Hood, and that they have enough evidence now to outlaw him. The next day, they, along with Sir Guy of Gisborne and his men at arms, interrupt Robert’s wedding to Marian and declare him an outlaw midway through the ceremony. Robert states that his identity as Robert Fitzooth ceases to exist, takes on the identity of Robin Hood in full, and promises to make Prince John fear his name with his deeds. Robin and his men fight their way out of the church and escape to Sherwood Forest, while Marian is relegated back to her father’s house. As they leave, Brother Michael, a friar, compliments Robin and receives Sir Guy’s ire. The latter devises that he will use Marian to trap Robin and makes the friar take him to her father’s home, Arlingford Castle.

Brother Michael sings along the way to the castle with Sir Guy in tow. Marian’s father no longer wants her to marry Robin. He intimates that he would be willing to betroth her to Sir Guy. Still, the friar argues that she is already half-married to Robin and that he may yet be pardoned for his outlawry by King Richard when he returns. Marian then appears and argues with her father that he cannot keep her from Robin or the greenwood, and he lets her leave as she threatens never to see him if he keeps her imprisoned. When the friar commends her, he is thrown out of the castle and the abbey he used to dwell in. Meanwhile, in Sherwood Forest, Robin addresses the men who had helped him escape and gives them the choice of freedom, as he is no longer their earl. He states that there are already men who follow him as Robin Hood and choose him as their king. Some accept and leave, but most stay to follow him. Robin then reasons that they commit no treason by fighting off Prince John’s oppression, that they will wage war on extortioners and evildoers, and that he will request a pardon from King Richard for hunting his deer. Robin and his men pledge themselves to the cause and Our Lady the Holy Mary, Mother of Christ, and go set up their new lives in a glade deep in the forest.

On Robin’s orders, Will Scarlet and Much the Miller’s son go spy on the going-ons of Locksley Hall after Prince John’s possession of it. Will finds out that Prince John is making the previous tenants pay a flat sum to retain their tenancy in Locksley and a fine for having served Robin. He takes advantage of the situation to retrieve Robin’s hidden treasures from Locksley Hall. He is about to make his escape, but Worman discovers him. Before Sir Guy of Gisborne captures him, Will manages to give Much the Miller’s son the money and has him hide in the forest. As he is deemed treasonous and taken to the Sheriff of Nottingham, Will rounds on Worman and calls him the traitor. Much the Miller’s son finds Robin, and they hatch a scheme to save Will Scarlet. At the hanging, Will Scarlet asks to be killed honorably with a sword, but the Sheriff of Nottingham denies him. The hangman cannot be found, and Robin takes the opportunity to act as one, and together with his merry men hidden in the crowd, they eke out a violent retreat.

Robin spends his time teaching his followers woodlore, training them, and fortifying their settlement in Sherwood Forest against the Sheriff and any other assailants. One day, when Robin grows restless, he goes about exploring and finds a stranger blocking his path on a small bridge in the forest. They have a sparring competition with quarterstaff, where they try to get the other to fall into the water stream. Eventually, the stranger overtakes Robin, and he is thrown into the water. Good-naturedly accepting his loss, Robin invites the stranger to dine with him, just as the stranger reveals that he was looking for Robin himself. He wishes to join his merry men, and Robin accepts, renaming him Little John from his former name, John Little.

One day, as Little John tries to entreat Robin to go hunt deer, Robin says that he wants to have a guest for dinner, someone who did not come by their wealth honestly. Little John sets off to find such a guest in the forest and comes upon a knight on the road. He brings him back to Robin, and as they dine together, Robin asks for what he calls the tithe of the forest, a price Robin’s guests must pay for the dinner he gives them. The knight reveals, however, that he has no money, and as Robin has his men search his bags, the knight’s claim proves true. Knowing the knight to be an honest man, Robin asks after his story and the loss of his wealth. The knight presents himself as Sir Richard of Legh and explains that when his son was captured during the crusade, a ransom of a thousand pounds for his freedom was requested. He borrowed 400 pounds from the Abbot of St. Mary’s and was meant to repay the sum on that day, but Prince John’s tax collectors had taken what money he had saved already. He suspects that the abbot is involved in tipping off the tax collectors so that he can claim Sir Richard’s land in compensation, but he has no proof. Robin decides to lend him the money for a year, knowing that, as an honest man, the knight will repay him.

The narrative pivots to the Abbot, who proves Sir Richard’s suspicions correct, as he discusses his plans to make off with Sir Richard’s lands after noon—their appointed hour—strikes. Sir Richard, however, turns up and asks for longer grace on the loan, which the Abbot vehemently refuses to give. Sir Richard decries the Abbot as shameful for his lack of charity and repays him with Robin’s money, thwarting the Abbot’s plans.