eyes beheld, and if thou wilt join my service I will clothe thee with a
better coat than that thou hast upon thy back; thou shalt eat and drink
of the best, and at every Christmastide fourscore marks shall be thy
wage. I trow thou drawest better bow than that same coward knave Robin
Hood, that dared not show his face here this day. Say, good fellow, wilt
thou join my service?"

"Nay, that will I not," quoth the stranger roughly. "I will be mine own,
and no man in all merry England shall be my master."

"Then get thee gone, and a murrain seize thee!" cried the Sheriff, and
his voice trembled with anger. "And by my faith and troth, I have a good
part of a mind to have thee beaten for thine insolence!" Then he turned
upon his heel and strode away.

It was a right motley company that gathered about the noble greenwood
tree in Sherwood's depths that same day. A score and more of barefoot
friars were there, and some that looked like tinkers, and some that
seemed to be sturdy beggars and rustic hinds; and seated upon a mossy
couch was one all clad in tattered scarlet, with a patch over one eye;
and in his hand he held the golden arrow that was the prize of the great
shooting match. Then, amidst a noise of talking and laughter, he took
the patch from off his eye and stripped away the scarlet rags from off
his body and showed himself all clothed in fair Lincoln green; and
quoth he, "Easy come these things away, but walnut stain cometh not so
speedily from yellow hair." Then all laughed louder than before, for it
was Robin Hood himself that had won the prize from the Sheriff's very
hands.

Then all sat down to the woodland feast and talked among themselves