The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood | Page 6

befall us. Thou
shalt eat sweet venison and quaff the stoutest ale, and mine own good

right-hand man shalt thou be, for never did I see such a cudgel player in
all my life before. Speak! Wilt thou be one of my good merry men?"
"That know I not," quoth the stranger surlily, for he was angry at being
so tumbled about. "If ye handle yew bow and apple shaft no better than
ye do oaken cudgel, I wot ye are not fit to be called yeomen in my
country; but if there be any man here that can shoot a better shaft than I,
then will I bethink me of joining with you."
"Now by my faith," said Robin, "thou art a right saucy varlet, sirrah;
yet I will stoop to thee as I never stooped to man before. Good Stutely,
cut thou a fair white piece of bark four fingers in breadth, and set it
fourscore yards distant on yonder oak. Now, stranger, hit that fairly
with a gray goose shaft and call thyself an archer."
"Ay, marry, that will I," answered he. "Give me a good stout bow and a
fair broad arrow, and if I hit it not, strip me and beat me blue with
bowstrings."
Then he chose the stoutest bow among them all, next to Robin's own,
and a straight gray goose shaft, well-feathered and smooth, and
stepping to the mark--while all the band, sitting or lying upon the
greensward, watched to see him shoot--he drew the arrow to his cheek
and loosed the shaft right deftly, sending it so straight down the path
that it clove the mark in the very center. "Aha!" cried he, "mend thou
that if thou canst"; while even the yeomen clapped their hands at so fair
a shot.
"That is a keen shot indeed," quoth Robin. "Mend it I cannot, but mar it
I may, perhaps."
Then taking up his own good stout bow and nocking an arrow with care,
he shot with his very greatest skill. Straight flew the arrow, and so true
that it lit fairly upon the stranger's shaft and split it into splinters. Then
all the yeomen leaped to their feet and shouted for joy that their master
had shot so well.
"Now by the lusty yew bow of good Saint Withold," cried the stranger,

"that is a shot indeed, and never saw I the like in all my life before!
Now truly will I be thy man henceforth and for aye. Good Adam Bell[1]
was a fair shot, but never shot he so!"
[1] Adam Bell, Clym o' the Clough, and William of Cloudesly were
three noted north-country bowmen whose names have been celebrated
in many ballads of the olden time.
"Then have I gained a right good man this day," quoth jolly Robin.
"What name goest thou by, good fellow?"
"Men call me John Little whence I came," answered the stranger.
Then Will Stutely, who loved a good jest, spoke up. "Nay, fair little
stranger," said he, "I like not thy name and fain would I have it
otherwise. Little art thou indeed, and small of bone and sinew,
therefore shalt thou be christened Little John, and I will be thy
godfather."
Then Robin Hood and all his band laughed aloud until the stranger
began to grow angry.
"An thou make a jest of me," quoth he to Will Stutely, "thou wilt have
sore bones and little pay, and that in short season."
"Nay, good friend," said Robin Hood, "bottle thine anger, for the name
fitteth thee well. Little John shall thou be called henceforth, and Little
John shall it be. So come, my merry men, we will prepare a christening
feast for this fair infant."
So turning their backs upon the stream, they plunged into the forest
once more, through which they traced their steps till they reached the
spot where they dwelled in the depths of the woodland. There had they
built huts of bark and branches of trees, and made couches of sweet
rushes spread over with skins of fallow deer. Here stood a great oak
tree with branches spreading broadly around, beneath which was a seat
of green moss where Robin Hood was wont to sit at feast and at
merrymaking with his stout men about him. Here they found the rest of

the band, some of whom had come in with a brace of fat does. Then
they all built great fires and after a time roasted the does and broached
a barrel of humming ale. Then when the feast was ready they all sat
down, but Robin placed Little John at his right hand, for he was
henceforth to be the second in the band.
Then when the feast was done Will Stutely spoke up. "It is now time,