Year: 1874

The question hns been asked by many a sober
old man and by many lively boy: "Did Robin
Hood ever live" Staid historians have taken
sides on the question and long essays have been
written both to prove that Robin lived and that
he did not live. shall not express my opinion
very exactly for l am not very sure. 1t is SO
charming to think of the gay and exciting scenes
that read OF as real, that hike to believe that
his "gray goose-wings" at hares and does, that he
really once fitted about among the sturdy Eng
lish oaks and the graceful English vines, dressed
in a suit of "Lincoln green," and welding stout
quarter-staf that was longer than he was tall.


| say like to believe that these things were
true; bat, when l come to study into the matter,
| am obliged to confess that it is very hard to
prove that they were. And yet think most Or
dinary English countrymen believe that Robin
Hood is as real character of history rs Richard
Ceur de Lion or George the Fourth. They have
sung the ballads that tell how he fought with the
tanner and was beaten, how he was tumbled from
the bridge by stout Little John, aud they have
seen, perhaps, the place in Yorkshire whore he Is
said to have been buried. l say they have sung
and seen these things; and might say, too, thai
their fathers and grandfathers and their great
grandfathers have done the very same for hum
dreds oil years


And yet it is very doubtful If Robin Hood ever
lived


There would be no trouble about the matter ii
We could only believe what ballads say, Tor one
Of them tells us very plainly:


In Locksley town in merry Nottingham shire,


In merry, sweet Locksley town,


There bold Robin Hood he was born and was bred.
Bold Robin of famous renOwn"


think, however, that this may be only a story,
made 10 amuse and interest those who sung it !;
Tor we are told in another ballad that his father
was forester, who could send an arrow from his
strong bow 1.-TWO miles aud an inch," which is
beyond belief. Besides, il is too exact for no one
would ever measure SO closely. IL reminds me oil
B tha W ha fab
and who, upon being asked why he did not say
one hundred, said he would not tell lie for one
fsh.


However, the ballads say that Robin Hood
lived; but they do not agree as TO when 1t was.
Some say that 1t was at about llJO, and others at
about 1900 or later. We learn from history tha,
| in the year lo66 a bold Northman, or Norman,
called William, came into England from France
and conquered the country. He not only made
himself king, but he brought many men from bis
own land, whom he made rulers and gave much
authority. This aas Let at all agreeable TO the
| English, and some Of them would not submit 10
William.


As William and his men made the laws, those
who would not obey him were obliged to run
away and hide It is said that Robin Hood was
an Engllshman who did not like the new rulers,
and that he ran away and lived free life in the
woods. IL was hundred years after Williams
| time that Robin Hood liyed-if he lived at oil
and Henry the Second, who Is called Plantage-





was descendant Of William the Conqueror
Richard Ceur de Lion ruled after Henry the
Second, and was one OF the brave adventurers
who went TO Palestine TO fight In the crnsades
against the Mohammedans, whom he called int
| dels.


| Other people say that Robin did not live ID
these reigns; but at the time OF Edward the
Third, and his son, the Black Prince, about 1880
There are others who tell us that Robin Hood
l lived between the times Of Richard and Edward
in the reign Of Henry the Third.


II you have studied English history, yor
will recolect that King john. who was one oi


the meanest Of Kings, was forced 10 sign Q
paper called the Magma Chdta, that gavt
some privileges to the people. Henry the iii
was q son of John, and tried to take from the


people the privileges his father had giver
belled against King Henry, under the lead o.
q powerful noble called Simon de Montford
The King was beaten by the people at frs


at the battle of Lewes, 1868 but in 1906 h
was victorious over them at the battle O


Evesham, one Of the most important OF Eng
lish conflicts. 50


After the battle of Evesham many mer
who would not submit to the king took to tn,
forests, and II II said that Robin Hood and hi
men were Of the number.


Whether any of the stories are true or ar
not, it is very plain from them what sort Of |
character Robin Hood had. He was q maj


done something for which the laws OF his coun


try would have punished him. In other word
he was an outlaws man outside OF the Law


one who wished to keep out Of its reach.


suppose II Is very pleasant to live in tn
green woods Of England, ON venison anS
J but 1t seems to me It must have been very IN


pleasant in cold and storms One thing


know however; 1t was not very pleasant no
: comfortable inside Of the house In those days