ROBIN HOOD AND THE BUTCHER
Retold by Mary Macleod
It happened one day when Robin Hood was in the forest that he saw a jolly butcher with a fine mare, who was going to market to sell his meat.
"Good morrow, good fellow, what food have you there?" said Robin. "Tell me what is your trade, and where you live, for I like the look of you."
"No matter where I live," answered the man. "I am a butcher, and I am going to Nottingham to sell my flesh."
"What's the price of your flesh?" said Robin. "And tell me, too, the price of your mare, however dear she may be, for I would fain be a butcher."
"Oh, I'll soon tell you the price of my flesh," replied the butcher. "For that, with my bonny mare, and they are not at all dear, you must give me four marks."
Robin Hood agreed at once to the bargain.
"I will give you four marks. Here is the money; come, count it, and hand me over the goods at once, for I want to be a butcher."
So the man took the money, and Robin took the mare and the cart of meat, and went on to Nottingham to begin his new trade. He had a plan in his mind, and in order to carry it out he went to the sheriff's house, which was an inn, and took up his lodging there.