"I swear to honor God and the King,
To help the weak and fight the strong,
To take from the rich and give to the poor,
So God will help, me with His power."
Then he lay down on the grass under the trees with his good longbow beside him, and fell fast asleep.
And this is how Robin Hood first came to live in the Green Wood and have all his wonderful adventures.
II
THE MEETING OF ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN
When Robin first came to live in Sherwood Forest he was rather sad, for he could not at once forget all he had lost. But he was not long lonely. When it became known that he had gone to live in the Green Wood, other poor men, who had been driven out of their homes by the Normans, joined him. They soon formed a band and were known as the "Merry Men."
Robin was no longer called Robin of Huntingdon, but Robin of Sherwood Forest. Very soon people shortened Sherwood into Hood, though some people say he was called Hood from the green hoods he and his men wore. How he came to have his name does not matter very much. People almost forgot that he was really an earl, and he became known, not only all over England, but in many far countries, as Robin Hood.