“Our king! King Richard!” they cried in dismay, and knelt at his feet. But the king told them to rise, that he liked bold outlaws. In fact, he pardoned them for all their misdeeds.
“Robin Hood and Little John and Will Scarlet and Allan-a-Dale must come with me to the wars. The others may live here and be my loyal foresters,” ordered the king.
And it was so. Robin Hood went away with the king that he loved so much and became head of all the archers in the kingdom. The merry men lived loyal and law-abiding in Sherwood Forest. And that was the end of the outlaws.
THE SPINDLE, THE SHUTTLE AND THE NEEDLE
In the hands of the industrious the simplest things can be made the means of good fortune.
Once upon a time there was a little girl whose father had died and left her with an old grandmother who lived in a cottage on the edge of the town. They were very poor and earned their living by spinning, and weaving and sewing. By and by the grandmother died, too, and then the girl, who was sixteen years of age, had nothing but the spindle, the shuttle and the needle. But with these she made beautiful things to sell. Everybody saw how lovely she was and praised beautiful things she made.
Now, the prince of the country had said he wanted to marry a poor girl, but she had to be beautiful and industrious. One day he came to the village where the girl lived, and asked if there were any poor girls there fit to be his bride. At once all the poor girls dressed up in their best clothes, and brought out all the things they had made and sat on the front steps. But the prince passed them all by for they were ugly and dowdy.
At last he came to the cottage where the poor girl lived. She was busy at her work inside and did not look up when the prince passed by. As he went on the spindle leaped out of her hand and danced down the road after the prince, spinning a beautiful golden thread. The prince was astonished and said:
“What is this? A golden thread! It must lead somewhere,” and he turned back to follow the spindle that kept on spinning golden threads.