The Adventures of Robin Hood

Another great tournament is organized by Prince John, and Robin attends, believing he is not in as much danger as the last time. The Black Knight also takes part, winning many battles and revealing himself to be Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, one of King Richard’s most faithful friends. At the archery contest, Robin enters as Locksley, and Prince John recognizes him immediately. Robin goes to the final match for the silver bugle-horn against a man named Hubert. Though Prince John pressures Hubert to win, Robin ultimately takes the prize. As Prince John gives the silver bugle-horn to Robin, he lets him go with a promise of vengeance. The narrative then makes mention of another tale in which Robin helped the Black Knight escape Torquilstone Castle. As they return from their adventure, the Black Knight is assailed by traitors headed by Prince John’s close ally, Baron Fitzurse, who knows his identity. The Black Knight’s companion, Wamba, calls for Robin Hood with a horn, and he arrives quickly with his band of merry men, disposing of the threat.

As rumors fly that King Richard has returned to England, Prince John charges the Bishop of Hereford to raise a rebellion against the King. The Bishop hesitates because he is only given a few men and must go through Sherwood Forest. As he leaves, the Prince and his men go to the forest separately. A tall palmer finds the Bishop on the road and asks to travel with him for safety in numbers. The Bishop agrees, and before long, they come across shepherds who have killed a deer. The Bishop threatens them, and the shepherd reveals themselves to be Robin Hood and some of his men. When Robin refuses to show mercy to the Bishop and instructs Little John to bring him to their glade, the tall palmer intervenes. Robin assures him that only justice will be carried out and invites the palmer to dine with them, too.

Meanwhile, however, Prince John has found Marian at the glade with Bettris. He tries to convince her to come with him, but Marian only blows her horn for aid. He captures her, and she strikes him across the face. When he is about to retaliate, an arrow penetrates his hand, and Robin strides into the glade. He and the Prince fight, and Robin overcomes him. The Prince is bound and placed in the cave, and the palmer comments on Robin’s living arrangements. Robin explains their philosophy, how he does not believe they are breaking laws, and how they respect honest people but operate against those who oppress others. He calls himself and his men “thieves” of honor. They drink to the King and his return from the crusade before demanding that the Bishop dance for them, and they poke him with arrowheads until he does. As Robin demands a game of buffet—wherein people take turns striking at each other—the palmer takes part, and no one, not even Robin, can defeat him. Prince John’s letter to incite a rebellion is discovered, and as they bring him out of the cave to confront him, the palmer reveals himself as King Richard. He allows Prince John to be set free, reinstates Robin’s lands and titles, and weds him to Maid Marian in Sherwood Forest.

For five years, Robin and Marian live in peace while King Richard recruits most of his merry men as he goes off into other wars. Though Little John tries to warn him, Robin believes himself safe from Prince John with his royal pardon. King Richard, however, is dead, and when Robin goes to Mass for the first time in a month, the Sheriff of Nottingham finds him and tells him the King wants to see him, though he does not specify which king. At Nottingham Castle, he is brought to the top of the tower, where four men were building a doorway. Prince John—now King John—makes his presence known and imprisons Robin in the tower by having his masons seal the door with grout and stone. Unable to escape, he uses his silver bugle-horn to let out his familiar call, and Little John answers. Robin manages to escape through the window with a rope that Little John shoots to him with an arrow, but the rope frays midway, and he falls 20 feet, breaking something irrevocably inside him. Still, they make their way to Locksley before King John and tell everyone to run away. They fight off their pursuers, and Robin kills the Sheriff of Nottingham while being chased by the King and his men. Eventually, Robin tells Marian to go to the Nunnery of Kirkleys for protection, where not even the King can trespass. They kiss before they part ways.

Robin rides until Scarborough and finds lodgings by play-acting as a poor fisherman by the name of Simon Lee. As he rests, he knows he cannot count on his friends since they would suffer for sheltering him. Feeling trapped, Robin finds the woman who owns his lodgings, and she tells him of an opportunity to work on a boat that sails to the North Sea. He accepts and finds that he makes a poor fisherman. When French pirates attack the boat, however, Robin rallies the men and overcomes the pirates. They take possession of the pirates’ treasure, half of which goes to the old woman, and the other half they divide among themselves. The fishermen bring him to Yorkshire, where the King’s men won’t find Robin, and he tells the fishermen his identity as he leaves.

King John tries to force Marian out of the nunnery but ultimately fails because of public perception. The Prioress of the Nunnery, meanwhile, urges Marian to take her vows, as the Nunnery would then take ownership of Locksley and all of Marian’s other property. After some time, Robin makes it to the Nunnery, looking awful as he never recovered from the fall. The Prioress accepts him into the Nunnery and puts him in bed. When he tells her his identity and asks for Marian, the Prioress lies and tells him Marian has left and gone back to Locksley. She opens a vein to let blood under the guise of helping him, but she unfastens his bandages, hoping he will bleed to death. When Robin wakes, he is dying, and he uses his horn one last time. Little John and Marian find him in the room, but it is too late. Robin asks for his bow and tells Marian and Little John to bury him where his last arrow falls. He dies in their arms, and the next morning, Little John digs his grave under a greenwood tree where the arrow landed and carves out his headstone.

Marian remains at the Nunnery and becomes a renowned Prioress by the name of Matilda until she dies in Robin’s room and is then buried next to him. Little John disappears and has a grave in Derbyshire. The narrative then recounts a story about how, years later, King Henry III, son of then-deceased King John, crosses Sherwood Forest and gets lost. He finds a hermit cell with two hermits in attendance, and they share a meal. They have an archery competition at twilight, and the taller hermit is the only one who can split the willow wand or the Sherwood mark. They tell the King tales of Robin Hood, the so-called king of outlaws, and as he leaves them behind, King Henry knows he has dined with Little John and Friar Tuck that night. Though he tries, the King can never again find the hermit cell in Sherwood Forest.