《Robin Hood》内容梗概

Robin Hood is the archetypal English folk hero; a courteous, pious and swashbuckling outlaw of the medieval era who, in modern versions of the legend, is famous for robbing the rich to feed the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny. He operates with his "seven score" (140 strong) group of fellow outlawed yeomen – called his "Merry Men". Robin Hood and his band are usually associated with Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire. He has been the subject of numerous movies, books, comics and plays.

In many stories Robin's nemesis is the Sheriff of Nottingham. In the oldest legends, this is merely because a sheriff is an outlaw's natural enemy, but in later versions, the despotic sheriff gravely abuses his position, appropriating land, levying intolerable taxation, and unfairly persecuting the poor. In some tales the antagonist is Prince John, based on John of England, seen as the unjust usurper of his pious brother Richard. In the oldest versions surviving, Robin Hood is a yeoman, but in some versions he is said to have been a nobleman, the earl of Loxley (Locksley), who was unjustly deprived of his lands. Sometimes he has served in the crusades, returning to England to find his lands pillaged by the dastardly sheriff. In some tales he is the champion of the people, fighting against corrupt officials and the oppressive order that protects them, while in others he is an arrogant and headstrong rebel, who delights in bloodshed, cruelly slaughtering and beheading his victims.

In point of fact, Robin Hood stories are different in every period of their history. Robin himself is continually reshaped and redrawn, made to exemplify whatever values are deemed important by the storyteller at the time. The figure is less a personage and more of an amalgam of the various ideas his "life" has been structured to support.

Generations of young readers have thrilled to the legend of the noble outlaw of Sherwood Forest. Now Robin Hood and his
Band of Merry Men come to life again in this imaginative new retelling of the age-old tale, Youngsters will delight in the feats of valor and thrilling exploits of Robin, Little John, Friar Tuck, Allan a Dale, Maid Marian and the other members of the band as they struggle for freedom and justice against the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. Six charming new illustrations enhance this edition.