Now, Robin Hood was very proud of his bow and arrows, so he answered sharply:
“Where I go is my business—but I can shoot better than any one of you.”
They all laughed aloud for they were famous shots. Robin became angrier as they laughed.
“See that deer yonder—more than sixty rods away are they; but I can bring one down from here,” cried he. They gave him permission. Twang! went his shaft straight into the heart of the big stag. It was a long and splendid shot, but, after all, he had killed a king’s deer!
“Get thee gone from here, knave!” they cried, “or we will have thy ears shaven close to thy head!” and they began to berate Robin and beat him for they were afraid themselves. Robin ran, and as he ran the foresters shot at him and narrowly missed him.
He was now in danger of his own life, so he stepped behind a tree and fitted another arrow to his bow, and while his pursuers were still far off, he sent a shaft into the breast of the foremost. He fell dead and the others turned back.
Robin was now an outlaw. He had killed the king’s deer and had slain one of the king’s foresters, and now Robin Hood had to hide in Sherwood Forest.