Year: 1874

cd Ballad.


BY ARTHUR GILMAN.


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


l say / like to believe that these
things were true but, when 1 come to
study into the matter, am obliged to
confess that it is very hard to prove
that they were. And yet think most
ordinary English countrymen believe
that Robin Hood is as real character
of history as 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, and they have seen. per-
haps, the place in Yorkshire where he
is said to have been buried. / say they
have sung and seen these things and
L might say, too, that their fathers and
grandfathers and great-grandfathers
have done the same, for hundreds of
years. l-r ..-


And yet it is doubtful if Robin Hood
ever lived


There would be no trouble about the
matter if we could only believe what
ballads say, for one of them tells us
very plainly.


In Locksley town. in merry Nottingham shire,
| In merry. sweet Iocksley town,


There bold Robin Hood he was born and was bred
| Bold Robin Of famous renown"


L think, however, that this may be only
a story, made to amuse and interest
those who sung it; for We are told in
another ballad that his father was a
forester, who could send an arrow
from his strong bow 'two miles and an
inch" which is beyond belief. Besiaes
it is too exact, for no one would Der
measure SO closely. 1t reminds me of
the man who said he had caught ninety
nine fish, and who, upon being asked
why he did not say one hundred, said
he would not tell lie for one fish.


However, the ballads say that Robin
Hood lived but they do not agree as
to when it was. Some say that it was
at about 1l50, and others at about 1900
or later. We learn from history that In
the year 1O66 a bold Northman, or
Norman, called William, came into
England from France and conquered
the country He not only made him
self king, but he brought many men
from his own land, whom he made
rulers and gave much authority. This
was not at all agreeable to the English,
and some of them would not submit to
William.


As William and his men made the
laws, those WHO would not obey him
we're obliged to run away and hide. 1t
is said that Robin Hood was an Eng
lishman who did not like the new rulers
and that he ran away and lived free
life in the woods. 1t was q hundred
years after Williams time that Robin
Hood ived-if he lived at all and
Henry the Second, who is called a
Plantagenet, was the king of England
of William the Congueror.


Richard Ceur de Lion ruled after
Henry the Second, and was one of the
brave adventurers who went to Pales-
tine to fight in the crusades against the
Mohammedans, whom he called inf
dels.


Other people say that Robin did not
live in these reigns but at the time of
Edward the Third, and his son, the
Black Prince, about 1850. There are
others who tell us that Robin Hood
lived between the times of Richard and
Edward, in the reign of Henry the
Third. -......


If You have studied English history,
you will recollect that King John, who
was one of the meanest of kings, was
forced to sign paper called the Magma
Chartd, that gave some privileges to
the people. Henry the Third was son
of John, and tried to take from the
people the privileges his father had
given them by the Magma Chdrta.
| lu6 DSOpto ICCCllCu dkAlhob AAlhS
Henry, under the lead of a powerful
noble called Simon de Montford. The
king was beaten by the people at first
at the battle of Lewes, 1864; but in
1265 he was victorious over them at the
battle of Evesham, one of the most I'M
portant of English conflicts.


After the battle of Eyesham many
men who wonld not submit to the king
took to the forests, and it is said that
Robin Hood and his men were of the
number.


Whether any of the stories are true
or are not, it is very plain from them
what sort of q character Robin Hood
had. He was a man who had run away
from society because he had done
something for which the laws of his
country would have punished him. In
other words, he was an outlaw-a man
outside of the law, one who wished to
keep out of its reach.


I suppose it was very pleasant to live
in the green woods of England, on ven
ison and other game during pleasant
Summer weather but it seems to me
that it must have been very unpleasant
in cold and storms. One thing L know
however it was not very pleasant nor
comfortable inside of the house in those
DAYS. 1 think they had no glass in
their windows, no chimneys, no gas nor
lamps, and, in fact, almost none of the
conveniences that we enjoy. 1 believe
that they had no forks even; and that
kings and queens, princes and prin-
cesses, were obliged to take their food
in their fingers, Only think of it


/ said 1 like to believe the stories
about Robin Hood. Let us try to be-
lieye them for little while. I will tell
Won what he is said to have done, Just