 |
| Robin Dadd watercolor of Robin Hood. |
The end of April had come in Robin Hood's
forest. The crocuses were gone, and the cowslips
and primroses were showing their yellow heads in
the grass. The leaves on the trees were long;
even the oaks were thickly enough clad to cast
a shade. The young birds were almost large
enough to fly, and every morning they woke
Marian with their chirping.
"In my father's castle," said Marian, "they
are beginning to think of May Day."
"Do you miss May Day?" asked Robin Hood.
"Shall we go to Nottingham town and see the
celebrations there?"
"Nay, then," said Marian, "let us have our
own May-day games, Robin. Much shall sing
for us; George-a-Green shall whistle; Little John
shall dance ; some of the young men must wrestle ;
and you and I shall be crowned King and Queen
of the May."
"That is a good plan," Robin said.
They were sitting under Robin's favorite oak.
Marian was embroidering a green jacket for him,
and he had been reading to her from a beautifully illuminated manuscript. Just as he was
about to continue, Friar Tuck came hurrying
across the clearing, his rosy face beaming with
excitement, his plump cheeks shaking at each
step.
''Hark you, Robin!" he said; "I have heard
that the queen and her ladies, her pages, her
guards, and some of the courtiers are to reach
Nottingham to-morrow."
"Say you so, indeed?" cried Robin.
"I suppose they will lodge with the sheriff,"
said Marian, "for none other has so large a house.
I warrant his lady will be vastly excited."
"But this is not all," went on Friar Tuck.
"The sheriff is anxious that there shall be a
splendid May-day celebration for Her Majesty.
The great square of Nottingham is not sylvan
enough, it seems. Despite the possible danger
from us, he says, he intends to hold the games
and dancing in the clearing by the yew trees."
"The sheriff knows there is no danger from
us," Robin said. "I am a loyal subject who will
always protect my Queen, though I am an outlaw."
"He probably supposes you are as base as
himself," remarked Friar Tuck; "but he thinks
that with his soldiers and because of the queen,
the royal party will be safe."
"Oh!" cried Marian, clapping her hands.
"Robin, let us hide in the thick woods about the
clearing and watch their games!"
"And give up our own?" he asked.
"No, no; have both!" she said. "Let us see
theirs first, and then have our own. As ours will
be much better, they should be last."
"You are very loyal to our own, Marian,"
Robin Hood said, smiling. "It shall be as you
wish."
When Robin Hood's bowmen heard that the
queen with part of her court was coming to
Nottingham, they were much interested. At
various times during the next day or two, some
of them went in disguise to Nottingham to see
what they might of the royal party.
They could scarcely recognize the place. A
great triumphal arch had been built at the entrance
of the town over the road along which the queen
was to pass. It was entirely covered with green
boughs, and across the top was the word, "Welcome," made of white roses. There was another
arch, in front of the sheriff's house, painted blue
and gold. From the windows of the other houses
hung flags and banners — scarlet and purple and
crimson. Even the very poor people had managed to decorate in some way. Those who could
not afford a banner of cloth had woven mats of
rushes to hang from their windows, and had
placed green boughs over the doorways.
The clearing by the yew trees was full of busy
workmen engaged in making a pavilion of green
wood and boughs. In the center was placed the
sheriff's own carved chair, over which was draped
a robe of ermine. Robin and Marian peeped at
it from behind the trees.
"Would you rather be a real queen than Queen
of the May?" Robin asked Marian.
"I prefer to be Queen of the Greenwood, as I
am," she replied.
Early on the first of May the queen was awakened by the sound of singing outside the sheriff's
house. The people of Nottingham were giving
her a May-day greeting. After she had dressed
and breakfasted, her white palfrey was brought
to the door. It had scarlet trappings, and a
bridle decorated with emeralds and jingling with
golden bells. The queen wore a pale green robe
in honor of the day. After her favorite page,
Richard Partington, had helped her to mount, he
walked at her horse's head. Then two score
horsemen in coats of mail galloped to the front,
while just behind the queen rode half a dozen
ladies-in-waiting on brown and black palfreys led
by handsome pages. Next came a score of knights
beautifully dressed in green; then twenty more
horsemen, and, after them, the Lord Sheriff.
All these set off down the road, followed by
the bowmen, dancers, and wrestlers who were to
provide the entertainment for the queen, and two
stout boys carrying the Maypole.
This Maypole was a tall, slim, tapering tree
trunk, all trimmed about with green leaves and
spring flowers, and with a dozen long green ribbons hanging from the top of it almost to the
ground.
The people of the town followed the procession
as far as they dared, but as they were not invited
to see the entertainment they did not enter the
greenwood. When the party had reached the
clearing by the yew trees the sheriff assisted
the queen to dismount and led her to the chair
of state.
Meantime, Robin Hood, Marian, and the bow-
men had gathered a few paces distant in the
woods. They watched the ladies and courtiers
group themselves about the queen, while the
guards stood a little farther back.
"Do you see the bowmen, master?" asked
Little John. "They are clad just like ourselves,
in Lincoln green."
''The sheriff has a good memory," said Robin
Hood.
"I fear that being clad like us will not give
them our skill," remarked Little John.
''Hush," said Robin; "the sports now begin."
The Maypole was set up several yards from the
pavilion. Then half a dozen men and maidens
came forward, and curtsied to the queen; and,
each taking one of the long green ribbons, they
began to dance. Backward and forward they
stepped, the ribbons in their hands, a fiddler making a rude kind of music to which they all kept time.
When the dance was over, the queen applauded,
but Marian smiled. She knew that her bowmen
could dance more gracefully than that. Then
stakes were set up at one end of the clearing, and
some young men threw quoits. This game did
not interest the queen particularly, for she was
too far away to see when the quoits encircled the
stakes. After that, other young men wrestled, and
again Marian smiled as she thought how much more
skillful the men of the greenwood were. Last of
all, the twenty men in green stepped forward.
"These, Your Majesty," said the sheriff, "are
the best bowmen in the country, bar none."
At that Robin shrugged his shoulders. "In
faith, that is hard to bear!" he said.
' ' Nay, then, Lord Sheriff, ' ' said the queen. ' ' I did
not know you had the best archers in England."
"Your Majesty shall judge," replied the
sheriff.
A row of targets was set up at one end of the
clearing, and the twenty archers stepped forward
and raised their bows. They had been practicing
diligently and they shot well, most of them coming
within the bull's eye.
"Well done!" cried the queen. "But the sport
has been very short. Have you anything more
to show me, my Lord Sheriff?"
"I had thought that more would tire Your
Majesty," replied the sheriff.
"Nay, then, I would gladly see more," said
the queen; "but since there is no more, I thank
you heartily for the pleasure you have given me
and my court."
At this moment Robin Hood stepped forward.
He was clad in his usual Lincoln green, and wore,
in honor of the day, a long mantle embroidered
in gold. He fell on one knee before the queen.
''Whom have we here?" said she.
''Your Majesty, a most loyal subject," he
replied, "who craves leave to show you some
May-day sport."
"Gladly," said the queen.
Robin Hood waved his hand, and his hundred
bowmen marched two and two out of the woods
and took their places, bows raised, before the
targets at the end of the clearing.
The queen's men looked at one another uneasily,
and felt for their weapons.
"Fear nothing!" cried Robin Hood loudly.
"We are loyal men."
Then Marian, all in white, rode forward on
her white palfrey. She dismounted at the pavilion and bowed low to the queen.
"Come you here, my pretty child," said the
queen, "and sit on the footstool at my feet."
While Marian obeyed, a band of dancers came
from the woods, Little John at their head, carrying a Maypole. It was far more beautiful than
the sheriff's pole, for it was covered with the
rarest of wild flowers and little delicate ferns.
The long ribbons which hung from it were deco-
rated with shining gold coins.
The dancers stepped before the queen and did
a morris dance, weaving backward and forward,
leaning and turning as lightly as if the green
grass had been a waxed floor.
As they danced, they sang this song:
Trip and go, heave and ho,
Up and down, to and fro;
From the town to the grove,
Two and two let us rove.
A-Maying, a-playing,
Love hath no gainsaying.
So trip and go, trip and go,
Merrily trip and go.
"Wonderful dancing!" cried the queen.
"Again!"
After the dance had been repeated, six wrestlers
took their places and showed their skill. Next
six tumblers performed most difficult feats of
tumbling and leaping. Lastly, after the queen
had applauded, Robin Hood called his archers.
"Your Majesty," he said, bowing low to the
queen, "my Lord Sheriff has shown you what his
archers can do. Give me leave to present mine."
"Let the men shoot," said the queen. "Archery is my favorite sport, as it is the king's."
Robin Hood whistled. At the signal, the archers came forward, and ranged themselves in front
of the pavilion. He whistled again, and they got
into position and lifted their bows. At the third
whistle, they sped their gray-goose shafts, and
at once the bull's-eye was full. Again Robin
whistled, and this time each archer split an arrow.
Then Robin took his bow, and stepping a little
to one side, shot diagonally, sending an arrow
through three of those quivering in the bull's-eye.
The queen rose and extended her hand. "My
good subject, this is unbelievable," she said.
"Accept this gold ring as a token of my favor."
Robin took off his embroidered mantle.
''Your Majesty," he said, "if you will accept
this mantle in return."
The queen took it, and then handed him the ring, "Accept this gold ring as a token of my favor."
 |
| "Accept this gold ring as a token of my favor" |
Meantime, the sheriff was looking uneasily
at Robin. He did not know whether or not he
dared tell the queen who Robin was.
"And now, my good subject," said the queen,
"tell me your name, that I may speak of you and
your wonderful shooting to my lord, the king."
"Your Majesty," he said, "have I your good
leave to depart unscathed, I and all my men,
and with your good favor, whoever I am?"
"Assuredly, since you are my true subject,"
she replied.
"Then, Your Majesty, I stand here, Robin
Hood, outlaw of Sherwood Forest."
At that the courtiers and men-at-arms put
their hands on their weapons. One or two took
a step forward. The ladies clung together in
fear. The queen grew pale; then she turned to
her followers and said; "Silence, all! Make no
movement. Do not harm this man."
"Humph!" whispered Little John. " Tis
more like that we could harm them."
"Your Majesty," said one lord, "do you not
know that there is a price on this man's head-
the king has commanded -
"Sir," cried the queen, "you forget yourself!
While the king is at war, as he is now, I am king.
I command that this man, to whom I have given
my word, shall go free."
Robin Hood took Marian's hand, and led her to
her palfrey. He beckoned his men to withdraw
into the wood. Then he turned to the queen.
"Your Majesty," he said, "do you wish now
to take back your ring?"
"Nay," said the queen, "a gift is a gift, and you
are a true subject. Yet come not near my court
again, Robin Hood. I may not always have the
power to protect you. And now farewell."
Robin Hood bent and kissed her hand, then
turning his back on all that silent company took
his way to his own green kingdom. He spoke
not at all, but the others were merry, especially
George-a-Green, who whistled and danced, and
Much, the miller's son, who sang this song:
Joan, to the Maypole along let us on,
The time is swift and will be gone;
There go the lasses, away to the green,
Where their beauties may be seen.
