“I have heard much of Robin Hood and his men hereabouts. I should like to see him. They tell me he can shoot a bow wondrous well.”
“Very easily arranged,” said one of the heralds, “if you and a few others will dress as Black Friars and go into Sherwood Forest.”
This pleased the king, and on the morrow he and several others dressed as Black Friars, with hoods over their faces, and went into the forest as though they were travelers. By and by the king said:
“Here we have come and brought nothing to drink. I am as thirsty as though we were in a desert.” As he said that out stepped a man from the roadside, and taking hold of the bridle of the horse on which rode the supposed friar, said:
“Come with me, holy brother, and I shall lighten your purse and give you a merry feast.”
The man was Robin Hood. Leading the king’s horse and guiding the others, he led them all to his hiding place and gave them a feast, though he was careful to take all the money that the supposed friars carried.
They showed their guests their wonderful archery. Robin Hood ordered that every man who missed his mark should have a buffet on the ear. Some of them missed and were soundly cuffed for their errors. Finally Robin Hood had to shoot, and by a strange chance he missed his mark on account of a bad arrow.
“I will cuff thee myself,” said the king laughing, and baring his mighty arm he gave Robin such a knock that the bold outlaw lay stretched upon the grass rubbing the side of his head.
But the king had showed his face in doing this.