Forum Post: Remember who started this
Posted 12 years ago on Sept. 25, 2011, 10:31 p.m. EST by davidlow2001
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Robin Hood refused to eat unless he has a guest. Little John finds a sorrowful knight and compels him to come. When Robin asks how much money he has; the knight says he has ten shillings. They demand to know how this came about, and the knight explains that his son killed two men, and he had to spend all his money, and mortgage his land, to save him. Robin lends him the money in St. Mary's name, and the rest of the band -- Little John, Much the Miller's Son, and Scarlock -- insist on giving him fine clothing, a packhorse, and a courser as well, and because a knight should have an attendant, Little John goes with him. The knight pretends that he still has not acquired the gold and pleads with the abbot for mercy. The abbot insists, and the knight reveals his deception and pays him, telling him that had he shown leniency the knight would have rewarded him. Afterward, the knight saves money to repay Robin, and also gets a hundred bows, with arrows fletched with peacock feathers. One day, while watching a wrestling match, he saw a yeoman who was winning the fight but because he was a stranger, was likely to be killed, and so he saved him. One day, Little John went to an archery contest and won. The sheriff took him into his service, after he got leave from the knight. One day, he woke late and wanted to eat. The steward ("stuarde") who is the butler ("bottler"), and the cook tried to stop him, because it was not meal time. The cook put up a good fight, and Little John proposed that he should come to the forest and join the band. He agreed and fed Little John. They plundered the house and went to Robin. There, Little John tricked the sheriff to coming to Robin. Robin only permitted him to leave when he had sworn to do them no harm. Robin again refused to eat unless he has a guest. The men caught a monk from St. Mary's Abbey, who claimed after the feast to have only twenty marks. He was carrying eight hundred pounds, and Robin claimed it: St. Mary has sent him it. The knight arrives. He explained that he is late because he saved the yeoman at the wrestling; Robin told him that whoever helped a yeoman was his friend, and refused to accept repayment. When the knight gave him the bows, Robin paid him half the eight hundred pounds. The sheriff held an archery contest. All the band showed well, but Robin won. The sheriff tried to seize him. They escaped to the castle of Sir Richard at the Lee. The knight (who first is named at this point), and the sheriff could not break in. He complained to the king, who insisted he must catch him. The sheriff took Sir Richard prisoner, and his lady went to Robin for help. They staged a rescue. The king came to take Robin and was outraged by the damage to his deer. He promised Sir Richard's land to whoever killed the knight, and was told that no one could hold the land while Robin Hood was at large. After months, he was persuaded to disguise himself and some men as monks, and by that means, get Robin to take them. Robin captured them and took half of their forty pounds. The "abbot" handed him an invitation from the king, to dine at Nottingham. For that, Robin said he would dine with them. After the meal, they set up an archery contest, and whoever failed had to suffer a blow. Robin failed, and had the abbot deliver the blow. The king knocked him down and revealed himself. Robin, his men, and Sir Richard all knelt. The king took Robin to court, but Robin longed for the forest and returned home. A prioress finally killed him, at the instigation of her lover Roger, by bleeding him.