Also, you can read how this story was adapted in the great 19th century children's novel The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle.

Click here to read the ballad where Robin Hood meets the foresters. But Robin managed to shoot and kill all fifteen of them. The foresters refused to pay up and were going to beat up young Robin. Then, Robin shot and killed a hart that was over 550 yards away. He was stopped by 15 surly foresters who mocked Robin's youth and said Robin was too young to shoot a bow. A tall lad of 15, Robin went to Nottingham to attend a fair. You can read more about them in the Merry Men section.īut a well-known later tale has a bloody explanation for Robin's outlawry. And others say he's one of the 'Fair Folk' or the 'Little People', the magical inhabitants of Britain.īut surely Robin's strongest allegiance is to his band of Merry Men - Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, Much the Miller's Son, Alan a Dale and above all Maid Marian, his true love.

But in some versions, he is the 'son' of the pagan forest god Herne the Hunter. In many stories, Robin is devoted to the Virgin Mary. But Robin will fight Richard's corrupt brother, the usurper Prince (and later King) John. Click to read about The King's Disguise and Friendship with Robin Hood. In many modern stories, Robin fights for an England where Norman and Saxon can live together in peace.Īlthough Robin is an outlaw, a thief and a rebel, he is usually a strong supporter of the rightful king, especially when that king is Richard the Lionheart. The Saxons are better known as the English, and for a time they lived under the cruel domination of the Normans, the French-speaking descendants of Vikings.

Brave princess rebel king