Reading Notes: Robin Hood, Part A
For this week's reading, I chose Robin Hood from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child (1882-1898).
First of all, all of these stories surprised me as Robin Hood is not at all as he is commonly portrayed in movies. He is kind of a brat and a punk who goes around picking fights he can't win, calling his pales to come get him out of trouble. That being said, Robin Hood's character annoyed me and so my favorite story was The Pedlars because in this story Robin gets what he deserves.
In The Pedlars, Robin Hood decides that he wants to search the packs of three peddlers traveling to Nottingham. Presumably, Robin wants to steal their goods. He orders them to drop their packs and shots arrows at them, which results in them dropping their packs and preparing to fight off Robin and his friends using their giant staffs. Robin asks the peddlers to wait so he and his men can get staffs with which to fight, to make things more fair (because it is totally fair to accost peddlers minding their own business and demand that they surrender their goods!). Well, Robin loses and is knocked unconscious but, fortunately, one of the peddlers (I believe) gives him some kind of an herbal mix which makes Robin vomit but also regain consciousness. So, in this story Robin definitely does not win or appear to be much of a hero.
If I retell this story, I would have it set in modern day, on a middle school playground. A bully would try and make a group of three friends give him their money and demands that everyone only fight with their fists in order to make it "fair." The bully and his friends are beaten by the three, with the bully knocked unconscious and only awakened when on of the three in the group that was attacked splashes water on his face, just in time for the end of recess.
Photo of Robin Hood topiary, taken by Enchufla Con Clave. Source: Wiki Commons
First of all, all of these stories surprised me as Robin Hood is not at all as he is commonly portrayed in movies. He is kind of a brat and a punk who goes around picking fights he can't win, calling his pales to come get him out of trouble. That being said, Robin Hood's character annoyed me and so my favorite story was The Pedlars because in this story Robin gets what he deserves.
In The Pedlars, Robin Hood decides that he wants to search the packs of three peddlers traveling to Nottingham. Presumably, Robin wants to steal their goods. He orders them to drop their packs and shots arrows at them, which results in them dropping their packs and preparing to fight off Robin and his friends using their giant staffs. Robin asks the peddlers to wait so he and his men can get staffs with which to fight, to make things more fair (because it is totally fair to accost peddlers minding their own business and demand that they surrender their goods!). Well, Robin loses and is knocked unconscious but, fortunately, one of the peddlers (I believe) gives him some kind of an herbal mix which makes Robin vomit but also regain consciousness. So, in this story Robin definitely does not win or appear to be much of a hero.
If I retell this story, I would have it set in modern day, on a middle school playground. A bully would try and make a group of three friends give him their money and demands that everyone only fight with their fists in order to make it "fair." The bully and his friends are beaten by the three, with the bully knocked unconscious and only awakened when on of the three in the group that was attacked splashes water on his face, just in time for the end of recess.
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