"What is your name?" said Will Stutely, taking out a tablet as though he would enroll it.
"John Little," answered the stranger youth.
"I like not the name," said merry Will. "This fellow is too small to be called John Little. Let us christen him over, Little John."
And so they had a christening and great sport; and from that day Little John was Robin's right hand man and second in command over the band. True and faithfully did he serve Robin for many years and loved him better with every year.
[ALLEN-A-DALE AND FRIAR TUCK]
This is the story of a merry friar and how he came to belong to Robin Hood's band. But it begins with the story of a sad youth with a harp in his hand, who could sing as sweetly as a thrush but who thought that he would never sing again for his heart was breaking. Robin Hood and his men found him in the forest, lying prone on the ground and sobbing as if he would weep his eyes out.
"Get up! Get up!" shouted Will Stutely, poking him with his foot. "I do hate to see a tall young fellow snivelling like a girl of fourteen over a dead bird."
But Robin Hood bade the others stand back, and touched the boy kindly.