How the Knight Helped Robin Hood.

Hutt News, Volume 2, Issue 33, 23 January 1930, Page 4

How the Knight Helped Robin Hood.

The Merry Men of the greenwood were gdod at all outdoor sports, but they were Best of all at ai'chery. At least six of them were as fine shots as any in the land, and always they were getting more and more practice: for those were the days before firearms were invented, and the only way of shooting the deer and the

Birds of the forest was with the bow.

None of them, however, was as fine a shot as Robin Hood himself, who was famous all over the country for his skill.

Now it happened one day that their great enemy, the sheriff of Nottingham, announced that he would hold* aii archery contest, open to all the archers ill the North of England. To the one who shot best he-"would give as a prize a silver arrow with a golden tip. .

When Robin Hood heard of this he was very much tempted to enter the contest. It would be madness to risk putting his life in his juxemy's hand, but then it was just the sort of risk that he loved —it was adventure.

Maid Marian begged him not to j:g, for she was afraid of the" dangor for him. He would go disguised of. course,. but suppose he should be recognised and caught! It could only mean a% shameful death for Mm. ~ »

For some little tiriie Robin Hood held himself in, but at length the, temptation was too strong for him and he said to h*s men:

"Make ready to come with me, fcr we cannot leave this challenge unanswered. "We must prove to •the sheriff that we are-the best .shots to be found in the North ox England."

The day of contest came, and a huge crowd of archers was gathered together, in Nottingham; They were all fine shots—the picked men from the towns all over the North—-and could split a1 thin wand with their arrows, at great distances." But there was among them a tall stranger, whom no one had ever seen before, in a cloak and hood, and he was a better, shot than any of the others:

Straight and true his arrows went, and time, after time he would split a wand where others had failed, to split it. To him, therefore;, was given the prize of the silver arrow with the golden tip.'-*,, ' ' The sheriff had been watching this extraordinary shooting, and had been growing mgre and more suspicious. He was thinking to himself: "Who is this stranger, who .comes no man knows whence, and ' who so easily out-shoots the picki rci. menfroni all the towns? Sure'l/ there is only one man in England able to shoot as well as this, and that is the outlaw chief. Can this be Kobin Hood?" So he blew upon his born, and cried out, that his soldiers should seize the stranger. ' ' Then there was great confusion among the onlookers; for Robin, as we know, was. not'alone, but [ had his band of outlaws with him, scattered among the crowd. At j first nobody knew what-was happening, which was friend or which was foe. Moreover, there were among the spectators many who remembered, kind things that Robin Hood had done for them, and [they purposely'got in the way of the sheriff's soldiers and hindered , them still more. But strong though the outlaws were, they were outnumbered, and all they could do was to keep their foes at bay, while they gradually fought their way out of the field, and retreated to the greenwood! All might have gone well, and Robin Hood have made his escape with the others, if Little John had not suddenly received an arrow in his, knee,. This.so badly' wounded him that he could neither walk nor ride. .

Seeing his Mends-plight, Robin Hood tootc the big man up on his shoulder, _and carried him off tlie field, while the rest of the band covered his retreat as long as they could. . •-..'■-

It was a perilous position: for Little John was heavy, and they could not hope to travel, at all quickly. They knew that before they could reach the shelter of the greenwood some of their enemies must have left the field and over taken them. Then what chance could they havef

"Leave me, master, and make good your own escape," Little

John begged him, but Robin Hood would not listen.

'' Not so, • old friend,' r he said.-V "We have lived long together in friendship, you and I, and now, if we must, we will die together." But luck was on their side and the sheriff was once again to be robbed of his prey, just when it seemed that it could not escape him. For near at hand there rose a walled castle, and here lived Sir Richard Lee, the same knight whom Robin Hood had befriended when he was likely to have lost his lands to the abbot. \j As soon as he heard that Robin Hood was without, and in danger of Jbeing taken by the sheriff, the knight hurried forth and brought the two outlaws to his castle.

"Because you were so good to. me when I needed help," he said, "I will save you from the sheriff, though it should mean forfeiting my own life. I have given orders for the gates to be closed and the bridge drawn, and my men are armed and ready to keep your enemies at bay, Here you shall stay until Little John's wound is well enough for you to return to the" greenwood.''

The knight kept his word, and when the sheriff stood outside the castle walls, and demanded that the outlaws should be given up to him, He refused to,sacrifice them. In this way he paid his debt to Robin Hood,, but it was a big thing for him to do: for in thus defying the sheriff's orders, he put his own life outside the law.

When, therefore, Robin Hood and Little John at length returned'to the greenwpod," -Sir Richard Lee and his wife went with them. _

"Here you shall dwell with Maid Marian, and the Merry Men, uniil1 such time as the king shall pardon us all,'' said Robin Hood.