Page 59 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

meet; for there the Sheriff sweareth he shall die as a warn-
ing to all outlaws in Nottinghamshire. But yet, I say again,
Alas! For, though Robin Hood and his band may be outlaws,
yet he taketh only from the rich and the strong and the dis-
honest man, while there is not a poor widow nor a peasant
with many children, nigh to Sherwood, but has barley flour
enough all the year long through him. It grieves my heart to
see one as gallant as this Stutely die, for I have been a good
Saxon yeoman in my day, ere I turned palmer, and well I
know a stout hand and one that smiteth shrewdly at a cruel
Norman or a proud abbot with fat moneybags. Had good
Stutely’s master but known how his man was compassed
about with perils, perchance he might send succor to bring
him out of the hand of his enemies.
‘Ay, marry, that is true,’ cried the young man. ‘If Robin
and his men be nigh this place, I wot right well they will
strive to bring him forth from his peril. But fare thee well,
thou good old man, and believe me, if Will Stutely die, he
shall be right well avenged.’
Then he turned and strode rapidly away; but the Palmer
looked after him, muttering, ‘I wot that youth is no country
hind that hath come to see a good man die. Well, well, per-
chance Robin Hood is not so far away but that there will be
stout doings this day.’ So he went upon his way, muttering
to himself.
When David of Doncaster told Robin Hood what the
Palmer had said to him, Robin called the band around him
and spoke to them thus:
‘Now let us get straightway into Nottingham Town and

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood