The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Large Print
Up rose Robin Hood one merry morn when all the birds were singing blithelyamong the leaves, and up rose all his merry men, each fellow washing his headand hands in the cold brown brook that leaped laughing from stone to stone.Then said Robin, "For fourteen days have we seen no sport, so now I will goabroad to seek adventures forthwith. But tarry ye, my merry men all, here in thegreenwood; only see that ye mind well my call. Three blasts upon the buglehorn I will blow in my hour of need; then come quickly, for I shall want youraid."So saying, he strode away through the leafy forest glades until he had cometo the verge of Sherwood. There he wandered for a long time, through highwayand byway, through dingly dell and forest skirts. Now he met a fair buxom lassin a shady lane, and each gave the other a merry word and passed their way;now he saw a fair lady upon an ambling pad, to whom he doffed his cap, andwho bowed sedately in return to the fair youth; now he saw a fat monk on apannier-laden ass; now a gallant knight, with spear and shield and armor thatflashed brightly in the sunlight; now a page clad in crimson; and now a stoutburgher from good Nottingham Town, pacing along with serious footsteps; allthese sights he saw, but adventure found he none. At last he took a road by theforest skirts, a bypath that dipped toward a broad, pebbly stream spanned by anarrow bridge made of a log of wood. As he drew nigh this bridge he saw a tallstranger coming from the other side. Thereupon Robin quickened his pace, asdid the stranger likewise, each thinking to cross first."Now stand thou back," quoth Robin, "and let the better man cross first.""Nay," answered the stranger, "then stand back shine own self, for the betterman, I wet, am I.""That will we presently see," quoth Robin, "and meanwhile stand thou wherethou art, or else, by the bright brow of Saint AElfrida, I will show thee rightgood Nottingham play with a clothyard shaft betwixt thy ribs.""Now," quoth the stranger, "I will tan thy hide till it be as many colors as abeggar's cloak, if thou darest so much as touch a string of that same bow thatthou holdest in thy hands.""Thou pratest like an ass," said Robin, "for I could send this shaft cleanthrough thy proud heart before a curtal friar could say grace over a roast gooseat Michaelmastide.""And thou pratest like a coward," answered the stranger, "for thou standestthere with a good yew bow to shoot at my heart, while I have nought in my handbut a plain blackthorn staff wherewith to meet thee.""Now," quoth Robin, "by the faith of my heart, never have I had a coward'sname in all my life before. I will lay by my trusty bow and eke my arrows, andif thou darest abide my coming, I will go and cut a cudgel to test thy manhoodwithal.""Ay, marry, that will I abide thy coming, and joyously, too," quoth thestranger; whereupon he leaned sturdily upon his staff to await Robin.Then Robin Hood stepped quickly to the coverside and cut a good staff ofground oak, straight, without new, and six feet in length, and came backtrimming away the tender stems from it, while the stranger waited for him,leaning upon his staff, and whistling as he gazed round about. Robin observedhim furtively as he trimmed his staff, measuring him from top to toe from outthe corner of his eye, and thought that he had never seen a lustier or a stouterman. Tall was Robin, but taller was the stranger by a head and a neck, for hewas seven feet in height. Broad was Robin across the shoulders, but broader wasthe stranger by twice the breadth of a palm, while he measured at least an ellaround the waist."Nevertheless," said Robin to himself, "I will baste thy hide right merrily, mygood fellow"; then, aloud, "Lo, here is my good staff, lusty and tough. Now waitmy coming, an thou darest, and meet me an thou fearest not. Then we will fightuntil one or the other of us tumble into the stream by dint of blows."