Robin Hood - His Book

Illustrated by Charlotte Harding

Eva March Tappan

• Publisher: Read & Co. Classics
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781473330511
• eBook ISBN: 9781473340558
• Subtopic: Historical Literature

This vintage book contains the tale of one of England's most famous legendary heroes, Robin Hood. Fantastically retold by Eva March Tappan, it tells the story of the ranger of the forest who is outlawed for shooting the king's deer but who becomes the embodiment of resistant to injustice in England and beyond. These classic legends are accompanied by wonderful full colour illustrations by Charlotte Harding. This volume is highly recommended for those with an interest in the legend of Robin Hood, and it would make for a charming addition to any collection. Contents include: "Robin and the Merry Little Old Woman", "Robin Goes A-Fishin'", "Robin Hood and Little John", "The Birth of Robin Hood", "Little John Learns a Trade", "Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow", "Robin and the Tinker", "Robin Hood and the Stranger", "Robin Hood and the Butcher", "Robin's First Day", "Robin Goes to a Wedding", et cetera. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with its original artwork and text.

XV

ROBIN AND THE MONK

IT was the morning of Whit-sunday, and all was fresh and fair in the forest. The birds were singing, the little flowers were blooming, and even the green leaves gleamed and shone in the bright May sunshine. Robin stood leaning against a tree.

“Master, what are you—” began Much the miller’s son; but William Scarlet whispered:—

“Hist! Don’t talk to him. When a man’s thinking, he may be going to do something.”

“Little John,” said Robin, “it’s full two weeks since I’ve been in the church. Whoever is a true man ought to hear a mass on Whitsunday. Can you say whether the proud sheriff is at home?”

“He’s not, Master,” answered Little John. “He’s gone full thirteen miles away to eat his Whitsunday dinner with his cousin.”

“Then will I go to the church,” declared Robin.

“Take twelve good bowmen with you,” pleaded William Scarlet.

“No, I’ll go alone,” said Robin. “When one goes to hear mass, he must not be thinking of bowmen.”

So through the woods Robin went on his way to hear mass at Nottingham. The gate-keeper came out to greet him. “I’m a sworn man,” said he, “that I’ll never see Robin Hood go through my gates alive, so while I shut my eyes, sir, do you just slip into the town.”

Robin went safely through the town gates and into the church, and knelt down before the great cross; and there he counted his beads and said a prayer for himself, and began to say another for each one of his men. The sun rose higher and higher, and people came into the church; but not one of them did Robin see, for he had not yet said prayers enough for half of his followers. Many a man was looking at him, and one whispered to another:—

“It’s he, and he sent my wife a bit of venison when she was sick;” and another whispered:—

“He dropped a silver shilling over my shoulder when I was ploughing.”

A woman said to her neighbor:—

“It’s our own Master Robin, and he gave me the very cloak I have on;” and the neighbor whispered:—

“He gave my daughter one hundred pounds for a dowry. He took it away from the greatheaded monk, and the monks were going to make a feast with it, and they all vowed they’d have his life.”

The parish priest was at the altar, and when he turned to the people, he too saw Robin. He looked about anxiously lest the sheriff should be in sight.

“It’s Robin that gave me the money to buy the lame woman a pig when the sheriff took the only one she had; and it’s Robin that gave my poor mother a cow when hers was drowned in the bog,” thought the parish priest. “May all the saints preserve him!”

So said the priest, and so said the people, but now the door swung wide open, and the greatheaded monk strode in. He strutted up the aisle with his head held high, and his arms swinging so that the people who were kneeling scrambled to their feet to get out of his way. When he was half-way up to the altar, he suddenly stopped, then he turned and ran out of the door. Not a bit of this had Robin seen, for he had not yet finished saying a prayer for each one of his men.

The great-headed monk hurried to the city gates, and bade that they be shut fast and barred and bolted. Then he ran full thirteen miles to the cousin’s house where the sheriff had gone to eat his Whitsunday dinner. Never had the great-headed monk run so fast or so far.

The sheriff and his wife sat at the cousin’s table. The sheriff was just taking his first glass of wine when he heard a noise.

“What’s that?” he cried.

“That’s naught but the cook opening the oven door,” answered the cousin—and all the time it was really the great-headed monk stumbling on the front doorstep.

In a minute there was another noise.

“What’s that?” cried the sheriff.

“That’s naught but the cook drawing the big pudding out of the oven,” answered the cousin—and all the time it was really the great-headed monk fumbling with the big brass knocker on the front door.

In a minute there was another noise.

“What’s—” began the sheriff, but he did not finish, for the great-headed monk burst into the room and called:—

“O Sheriff, Sheriff, come with me. There’s a felon and knave in the church at Nottingham.”

“Never a step will I go,” said the sheriff, “till I’ve had one, two, and three glasses of good red wine.”

“But it’s the king’s felon,” shouted the monk full in his ear as if he were deaf.

“The king has felons in plenty,” said the sheriff calmly, “and I’ve not often such wine as this. I’ll not lose it for all of them.”

“But it’ll be your fault if he gets away,” shrieked the monk. “He stole one hundred silver pounds from me, and he’s at the mass.”

“Then he’s doing no harm,” retorted the sheriff, “and I’ll go for him when I’ve had my three glasses of wine.”

“But it’s Robin Hood,” screamed the monk.

“Simpleton that you are, why did n’t you say so?” roared the sheriff.

The wine-bottle flew one way and the wooden stool another. The table gave a great lurch, and while the cousin and the cousin’s wife and the sheriff’s wife were trying to save all the good things from falling down among the rushes, the sheriff ran out of the door and down the steps. He thought that he caught up his cap and mantle as he ran. It was really his wife’s purple hood and scarlet cloak, but he did not know it; and down the road he tore with the scarlet cloak flying out in the wind and the purple hood hanging over one shoulder. After him came the great-headed monk, crying out:—

“Hasten, Master Sheriff, hasten, or he’ll be gone, and he stole one hundred silver pounds from me, he did.”

They ran all the thirteen miles to Nottingham. Then the sheriff went through the gate, and called out two-score men to go with him to take Robin Hood. They dashed in at the church door, and just as Robin finished his prayer for the last one of his men, his enemies surrounded him with clubs and stones and sticks and cudgels and bludgeons, and any other kind of weapon that they had been able to snatch in their hurry.

“Would that only one of my good men were with me,” thought Robin. He drew out his two-handed sword that hung down by his knee, and where the crowd was thickest, he began to strike. One and another fell till twelve of them lay dead on the church floor. A terrible blow did Robin give full on the sheriff’s head, but now in the time when he had most need of it, the good sword failed. In the twinkling of an eye it was in two pieces, and lay on the stone floor that was slippery with the blood of the twelve men.

So it was that Robin was taken prisoner. He was bound with three stout ropes, each tied in seven twisted knots, and then all the company set out for the jail. The sheriff went first, with the purple hood and the scarlet cloak. Then came Robin Hood, bound with the three stout ropes, and each of them tied in seven twisted knots. On either side of Robin were two strong men with their two sharp swords, and behind Robin walked four others, and each of these had a pike in his hand. They marched off to the stone jail, and the sheriff knocked on the door.

“Who is there?” called the jailer.

“The sheriff of Nottingham, and here is the worst felon in the land. He’s bound with three stout ropes, and every rope is tied in seven twisted knots. Take him, and see that you lock him into the lowest dungeon cell of the whole jail.”

Then was Robin put into the lowest dungeon cell of the whole jail, and his door was locked fast and barred and bolted.

“Be sure you bolt the outer door,” cried the sheriff, as they went away. “Those men of his are worse than thieves, and they’ll break in and set him free. See to it that you let no man in unless I bring him.”

“Be sure you bolt the prison gate,” called the great-headed monk. “He robbed me of one hundred silver pounds once, he did.”

Then said the sheriff:—

“Now will I write a letter to the king, and I’ll send it by a trusty man, and it’ll say: ‘The bold outlaw Robin Hood is fast in the prison of Nottingham town. He’ll not get away, for it’s the sheriff that’s watching him, and the sheriff knows how to hold on to a rascal. No one slips through his fingers.’”

“I’ll gladly bear the letter myself,” said the great-headed monk, “for he robbed me of one hundred silver pounds.”

The letter was written and given to the monk. He set out with a page for the king’s court. The sheriff went with him as far as the town gate, and he bade the gate-keeper:—,

“See to it that you lock the gates well this night, for the bold outlaw Robin Hood is down in the lowest dungeon cell of the prison, and he’ll either break out or the knaves that follow him will come to his rescue.”

Then said the sheriff to his men:—

“Get your bows ready and your axes and your knives and your swords, for Robin Hood will try to get out before sunrise. A sheriff has to be awake. Other men may shut their eyes, but mine have to be wide open. Nobody will get into the prison unless I bring him”—and here the sheriff threw back his head with a loud laugh—“but Robin will try to get out, and you must be ready for him.”

Over the good greenwood the sun rose higher and higher until it peered straight down through the tops of the trees.

“It is time for Master Robin to be here,” said William Scarlet.

“He’s not the man to come out at the church door till he’s said a prayer for every one of us,” said Much the miller’s son.

Then said Little John:—

“The sun begins to go down over the trees, Let us take off our green cloaks and our hunting caps with the feathers, and let us go out on the highway to seek for tidings.”

So they took off their green cloaks and their caps with the feather in each, and they went out on the highway to seek for tidings of Robin.

Before long a monk came riding by on a fine gray horse, and behind him rode a page. Low louted the three men before him, and William Scarlet said:—

“A humble greeting to you, sir. Is there any news from Nottingham?”

“I’ve no time to chatter with folk like you,” replied the great-headed monk, for it was he himself on his way to the king’s court. “I’ve a letter to bear to the king.”

“It’s only a man of mark that’s trusted with a letter to the king,” murmured Much the miller’s son awesomely.

“You’re saying the truth,” the monk responded; “and there’s wonderful news in this letter. It’s not every day that the king has a letter like this.”

“It must be a fine thing to be a great man like you,” declared Little John.

“So it is,” agreed the monk. “Still, a great man ought not to be proud, and I’ll tell you the word that’s in the letter. It’s a vast honor you’re having, mind you that now.”

“And what might be in the letter?” asked William Scarlet, for the sun was sinking lower and lower.

“It’s not manners to hurry your betters,” said the monk, “but I must get on, so I’ll tell you the news. That bold outlaw Robin Hood has been taken, and he is shut up in the lowest dungeon cell of the jail in Nottingham. It’s locked and barred and bolted, and so is the outside door, and so is the gate of the jail, and so is the gate of the town, and the jailer’s forbid to let any one, save the king himself, through even the outer gate unless the sheriff be with him.”

“Truly, that’s a mighty piece of news,” said Little John, “and it’s properly grateful that we are to you for stopping to tell it to simple country folk like us. It’s a great thing to bear a letter to the king, and it needs a brave man, too, in these days. I’d not like to be you—saving the dishonor to your Reverence—for I’d ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Biography of Eva March Tappan
• Preface
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• I. Robin and the Merry Little Old Woman
• II. Robin goes a-fishing
• III. Robin Hood and Little John
• IV. The Birth of Robin Hood
• V. Little John learns a Trade
• VI. Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow
• VII. Robin and the Tinker
• VIII. Robin Hood and the Stranger
• IX. Robin Hood and the Butcher
• X. Robin’s Fast Day
• XI. Robin and Sir Guy of Gisborne
• XII. Robin goes to a Wedding
• XIII. Robin’s Friend, the Knight
• XIV. Robin meets his Match
• XV. Robin and the Monk
• XVI. Robin and Maid Marian