then," said Robin Hood. "I interfere with no man's vows." And he never dreamed that it was the king.

They gave them a splendid feast of roasted venison and pheasant and fish and wild fowls, all done to a turn over the roaring fire, and the best of drink. Then they arranged the sports.

The target was a garland of leaves and flowers that was hung six score paces distant upon a stake. It was a mark that only the best of archers could hit at all.

"Now shoot!" said Robin Hood. "You shall each of you have three shots, and every one who fails to place his arrows within the garland shall forfeit the arrow and receive beside a box on the side of the head as stout as can be given."

"Can any one hit inside that little garland at such a distance?" asked the king in amaze.

"Look and see," answered Robin Hood proudly.

First, David of Doncaster shot, and lodged all three arrows within the garland, while the king looked on, astonished. Then Midge, the miller's son, and he also placed all his arrows inside of the garland. Then Wat the Tinker drew his bow; but he was unlucky, for one of his arrows missed the mark by the breadth of two fingers.

"Come here and take your punishment," called Robin Hood. The king supposed that, since he had missed by so little, he would receive but a light tap, but he got a blow that knocked him spinning across the grass, heels over head.

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed his comrades, and "O ho!" thought King Richard, "I am glad I am not in this." But he was much impressed with the way Robin Hood's men obeyed him.

"They are better to follow his commands than my servants are to follow mine," he thought.

The shooting went on, and most of the men shot their arrows within the garland, but a few missed and received tremendous buffets.

Last Robin Hood shot. His first shaft split off a piece of the stake on which the garland was hung. His second lodged a scant inch from the first. But the last arrow he shot was feathered faultily, and it swerved to one side, and smote an inch outside of the garland.

Then all the company roared with good-natured laughter, for it was seldom indeed that they saw their master miss.

"Go and take your punishment, master," said Midge, the miller's son. "I hope it will be as heavy as Wat's."

"Well," said Robin Hood, "I will forfeit my arrow to our guest and take my buffet from him."

Now the merry Robin was somewhat crafty in this, for, though he did not mind hard knocks at all, he did not like the thought of being sent sprawling before his band. The hands of churchmen were soft, and their strongest blows but feeble, for they did not work nor use their muscles much. But the pretended abbot bared an arm so stout and muscular that it made the yeomen stare. Robin Hood placed himself fairly in front of him and he struck a blow that would have felled an ox. Down went Robin Hood on the ground rolling over and over, and his men fairly shouted with laughter.

"Well," said Robin Hood, sitting up, half dazed, "I did not think that there was an arm in England that could strike such a blow. Who are you, man? I'll warrant you are no churchman as you seem."

Then Richard threw his cowl, and Robin knew his king. If he had been a disloyal man as well as an outlaw, he would have trembled then. But, though he knelt at the king's feet and signalled all his men to kneel, his voice was not ashamed.

"Your majesty," he said, "you have no subjects in all England more loyal to you than I and my merry men. We have done no evil except to certain of the greedy and rich who oppressed your subjects. We crave your pardon if we have done wrong, and we beg for your protection, and swear that we will ever serve you faithfully."

Then the king looked down in amazement that an outlaw should speak so. But he knew men, and he knew what people said of Robin Hood. And he knew, too, that he was the best archer in all England and he wanted him in his own train.

"I will forgive all your law-breaking," he said, "if you will come with me to my court and serve me there. You shall take Little John and Will Scarlet and Allen-a-Dale, who is the sweetest singer I ever heard; and the rest of your men I will make into royal rangers, since I judge that they can protect Sherwood Forest better than any others."

So Robin Hood left the greenwood and went to the king's court and he served King Richard well. But he did not like the confinement of the court and could not abide the gaieties and jealousies of the courtiers. After King Richard died, his brother John took the throne, and he was one of the worst kings that ever ruled England. Then Robin Hood went back to the forest and his merry men gathered around him once more, and again they became outlaws. And there in the forest he lived till he died.

DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD

Now the manner of Robin Hood's death was in this wise. He had grown to be an old man, and he became ill of a fever.

"I will go to my cousin, the prioress of Kirklees, for she hath much knowledge of healing," he said. "I will ask her to bleed me that I may become well."

In those days the women had more knowledge of healing than any others, for it was the duty of every mother and daughter to learn as much as she could about it that she might know what to do if her husband or her son were wounded. This cousin of Robin Hood's was greatly indebted to him, for he had got her her good place as prioress. But she loved one of his enemies, and she dealt treacherously with him.

She opened a vein in his arm, but she did not close it up again. Then she left him alone in a high room at the very top of the priory to bleed to death. All day long he bled till he was so weak that he could hardly move. But at evening he managed to lift his bugle to his lips and blow. The blast was but feeble, but Little John heard it, for, though the prioress refused to let him in with Robin Hood, he had lingered as close to his dear master as he could get, all day long.

The prioress locked the great entry door so that he might not come in, and he seized a huge stone mortar that three men could not lift ordinarily and hurled it against the door, crashing it in. Then he dashed up the winding stairs and none could stay him until he reached the room under the eaves where his master lay. But he saw at a glance that Robin Hood was dying.

"Master," he cried, "I will burn the priory down over the heads of these vile nuns whose mistress has done you such dreadful treachery."

"No, no," said Robin Hood, with a smile that was feeble but was wondrous sweet. "I have never hurt a woman in my life nor allowed my followers to do it. I could not allow such a thing now."

And with almost his last breath he made Little John promise to do no injury to the treacherous nun who had killed him.

There are many more stories about Robin Hood. There is not space enough here to put down half of them. I hope you will ask for them at the library and read them all, and some of the quaint old ballads about him too. And I hope, most of all, that every boy who reads them will try to be as kindly and as helpful and as generous and as brave and chivalrous to all woman-kind as Robin Hood was.

ROBIN HOOD AND ALLEN-A-DALE