The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1883

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Prologue

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Robin Hood and the Tinker”

The Sheriff of Nottingham offers a reward for Robin Hood’s capture; but the citizens of Nottingham shy away from the offer because they know that going after Robin Hood will only earn them “cracked crowns and broken bones” (20). The Sheriff sends a messenger, a tinker named Wat o’ the Crabstaff, to the town of Lincoln to see if anyone there is willing to do the job.

The Tinker meets with Robin Hood on the road, without knowing who he is. The two men befriend each other and stop at the Blue Boar Inn. There, Robin gets the Tinker drunk and leaves him asleep. After the Tinker wakes up and realizes what has happened, he leaves the tavern in anger. He and Robin again meet on the road, and they come to blows with their staffs. When Robin’s staff breaks and the Tinker has him cornered, Robin blows his horn and Little John and six other Merry Men come to his rescue. Robin invites the Tinker to join his band, and he good-naturedly accepts.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “The Shooting-Match at Nottingham Town”

The King is angry that the Sheriff of Nottingham cannot capture Robin Hood, despite commanding a large force of men. The Sheriff decides to declare an archery contest in Nottingham to lure Robin Hood there and capture him.

One of the Merry Men, David of Doncaster, informs Robin Hood of the Sheriff’s plan, which he learned through one of the Sheriff’s men. Robin proposes that he and some of the Merry Men compete in the contest in disguise. Robin wears the disguise of a beggar: a tattered scarlet cloak, with a patch over one eye.

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At the contest, Robin bests all the other contestants with the accuracy of his aim. He wins the match and its prize, a golden arrow. The Sheriff congratulates him and invites him to join his service, but Robin declines, declaring that “no man in all merry England shall be my master” (39). This enrages the Sheriff, who rides away in a huff.

Back in Sherwood Forest, the Merry Men celebrate the day’s events, but Robin Hood is “vexed” and wants to let the Sheriff know that it was he who won the match. Later the same day, Little John and Will Stutely shoot an arrow into the Sheriff’s house while he is feasting with his men. Attached to the arrow is a message in verse proclaiming that Robin Hood was the winner of the contest. The Sheriff is filled with rage.

Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “Will Stutely Rescued by His Good Companions”

The Sheriff organizes a band of his constables to go into the forest and lie in wait for Robin Hood. Eadom, the keeper of the Blue Boar Inn, conveys this news to Robin Hood. Robin instructs his men to “abide silently in Sherwood Forest” (43) but to take arms to defend themselves if necessary. After seven days of hiding, Robin deputizes Will Stutely to go in disguise out into the open and see what the Sheriff is up to.

Disguised as a friar but with a sword hidden on him, Stutely goes to the Blue Boar Inn where several of the Sheriff’s constables are drinking. One of them catches sight of Stutely’s Lincoln green beneath his robe and, assuming him to be one of Robin’s men, attacks him. Stutely fights back with his sword, but the constables overcome him. They carry him off to be hanged the next day. The innkeeper’s daughter relays this news to Robin. He and his men vow to rescue Stutely, risking their lives for him as he did for them.

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The next day, Robin and his men go disguised into Nottingham and mix with the crowd at the execution. The Sheriff rejects Stutely’s plea to let him fight the Sheriff instead of being hanged. As Stutely is led to his execution, Little John and other Merry Men jump on the cart in which he being transported and untie him. Armed with swords and arrows, they fight with the Sheriff and his men until they retreat. The Sheriff is “ashamed” at having let Robin Hood escape a third time but, fearing for his own life, vows no longer to trouble Robin and his band.

Part 1 Analysis

Having established the Sheriff of Nottingham as Robin Hood’s nemesis, Part 1 recounts three attempts that the Sheriff makes to capture Robin, and how each time Robin evades him. Pyle’s use of period language to evoke the story world extends to the headings of each Part: “how he made three trials thereat, but missed each time by a good bow’s length” (17). With the Tinker, we meet a second character who starts as an enemy but whom Robin befriends and invites to join his band.

There are two shooting matches that function as structurally important points in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. The first is the shooting match in Nottingham. Robin attends in disguise, wins, and evades the Sheriff’s clutches. Much later in the book, Robin will be called to London to compete before the king and queen. These two matches show the progress of Robin’s fame and fortune.

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In Chapter 3, we see an example of Robin’s nonviolence. The Sheriff has sent his men to Sherwood Forest to capture Robin Hood, but Robin decides not to meet force with force but instead lie in hiding: “[F]ain would I shun blood and battle, and fain would I not deal sorrow to women folk and wives because good stout yeomen lose their lives” (43). He still regrets his killing of the forester (recounted in the Prologue) and does not wish to shed any more blood. This is a code that Robin will adhere to throughout the book. The emotional scene between Little John and Will Stutely after Will’s rescue (51) shows us the affective bond that unites the Merry Men and the fact that they freely show their feelings in addition to practicing the manly arts.