Connor: The Tale of Sir Robin of Loxley

         The Tale of Sir Robin of Loxley

   By Connor M. Jones

It was an average day at first.  I, a rich noble, had enjoyed sitting around in my estate.  As was my job, I taxed the villagers of Loxley.  It was the late 12th century and the king was going on crusade.  My family had been friends with the royal family for centuries.  As such it was assumed that princess Maid Marian and I would fall in love.  My name was Robin and this is my tale.
           I had gotten permission from King Richard to hunt the royal deer.  When I did so, however, I was set upon by the sheriff's men.  The scoundrels said that I had no business in Sherwood forest hunting the king's deer.  Later I got John, the king's younger brother, to help me out of this mess.  John was a nice person, even if he did believe that he and Richard were above the law.
         When I got home I saw that the villagers, whom I'd often donated small amounts of my own money, were starving from all the taxes.  John, whom Richard left in charge, had been taxing my people and much of England.  As for who collected those taxes in the king's name, it was the Sheriff of Nottingham.  At this point I had had it with that sheriff and left the village with a good sum of gold.  I took my best green garment, a hat with a yellow feather, a bow, and with these belongings I ran off into Sherwood Forest.  I went about in multiple disguises giving out money to the poor of England, and when my gold dwindled I stole from John.  Soon there was a price on my head and the posters called me Robin Hood, after that the name stuck.
                    Eventually I heard that the sheriff was in charge of keeping a watchful eye over Maid Marian, I also heard that the same sheriff locked her away in a tower.  As I was alone at the time I couldn't quite pull off a jailbreak.  I also heard that a knight by name of Sir Guy of Gisborn was hired to find and kill me, but I was sneaky and cunning.  Fortunately Marian had been trained in swordplay by her father, Unfortunately the sheriff was no doubt keeping her away from swords.  Soon enough I had my band of merry men including John Little, whose name was often made fun of by friend and foe.
         My band of about a thousand men and I moved toward the castle where Marian was being held.  We carried swords, maces, bows, arrows, and other such weapons.  We traveled for a while before we ran into Sir Guy, who then challenged me to a sword fight.  Being a gentleman I had to agree to duel him, even though he decided to duel to the death.  The duel began he swung the sword at me and I parried, next I swung at him and he blocked it with his shield.  The battle continued in this manner, until his shield was wrenched from his hand.  We continued to swing and parry until I managed, with a lucky strike I might add, to decapitate the poor fellow.  Twas his fault, for he should have known not to challenge me to such a duel.  I am just as good with a sword as I am with a bow and arrow.
       Upon reaching the castle, we subdued the guards and proceeded to tie a rope to an arrow and shoot the arrow at the piece of wood under the window.  After that I tugged the rope to make sure it was secure and went about climbing.  Eventually I got to the room, but in front of me was the obese sheriff himself.  We had a quick little duel and soon he was running away in fear, or to get something more effective.  I got to Maid Marian, who was already turning a leg of a chair into a sharp stick.  Until she realized that I had come to get her out she held the stake to my throat.  Soon, after she put the stick away, we were running to get out.  I sent Marian down the rope first and as she climbed I found myself face to face with the sheriff.
        Again I fought the sheriff, only this time I had been wounded, he brought the sword down and gave me a large gash on my arm.  Fortunately it was not the arm I use to handle a sword and thus again I sent him running off to John.  Soon enough I saw John walk in wearing an elegant robe and the crown.  He looked at me and, like Marian, recognized me quickly the prince drew a broadsword and went crazy trying to murder me.  I did the one thing I could possibly do, I ran and jumped out the window.  Seeing as I gave Marian enough time to reach the ground in the gigantic pink dress she was wearing, I had no trouble falling out the window.  Fortunately I was caught by Maid Marian and we all escaped back to Sherwood Forest.  Once there, my wounds were tended to, Alan-a-Dale sang of our heroic escapades, and I married Maid Marian, who insisted that we move back to my small castle in Loxley.  Years later when King Richard returned he pardoned me for my crimes against the crown and the murder of Sir Guy.  A few years later, the rightful king we had waited for years to return passed away and John was once again on the throne.  At least now things wouldn't be as bad, or so it seemed.