Page 361 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

King Richard Comes

to Sherwood Forest

OT MORE than two months had passed and gone
Nsince these stirring adventures befell Robin Hood and
Little John, when all Nottinghamshire was a mighty stir
and tumult, for King Richard of the Lion’s Heart was mak-
ing a royal progress through merry England, and everyone
expected him to come to Nottingham Town in his journey-
ing. Messengers went riding back and forth between the
Sheriff and the King, until at last the time was fixed upon
when His Majesty was to stop in Nottingham, as the guest
of his worship.
And now came more bustle than ever; a great running
hither and thither, a rapping of hammers and a babble of
voices sounded everywhere through the place, for the folk
were building great arches across the streets, beneath which
the King was to pass, and were draping these arches with
silken banners and streamers of many colors. Great hubbub
was going on in the Guild Hall of the town, also, for here a
grand banquet was to be given to the King and the nobles of
his train, and the best master carpenters were busy build-
ing a throne where the King and the Sheriff were to sit at the
head of the table, side by side.
It seemed to many of the good folk of the place as if the

0 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood