Robin Hood Ballads Essay Week 12

Movie Robin Hood

This week I read the Robin Hood Ballads unit. I think of all the units I have read so far that this was probably one of the most unique units. The entire unit was in song form, so reading it was like reading some old time poetry. I had a very Chaucer feel to it. One of the great things about this unit is that a lot of them had an embedded Youtube video of someone singing the ballads, so that added an extra dimension to this unit. I have always loved movies and tales that involved Robin Hood, so it was a no brainer for me to pick this unit. In the unit the stories that were presented were all pretty familiar to me so there were no real surprises for me as far a new knowledge. However, because they were in the forms of ballads I was able to enjoy these stories on a whole new level. Though they were in ballads they were not hard to understand or follow. The pictures in the unit were another part of the unit I enjoyed. Some of the artwork I had never seen before, actually most of it was new for me. I was always familiar with the Robin Hood I have seen in the movies so to come across other art work that was influenced by the legend, if that is accurate because there is some argument that he was an actual person, was interesting to me. I had never thought of the cultural effect that Robin Hood had on that region, but now after reading the stories in the unit, seeing the artwork, and hearing the songs it is clear that Robin Hood is as big a part of the culture as the Arthurian legends.

Picture Attribution

By United Artists, cinematographers Arthur Edeson & Charles Richardson (http://douglasfairbanks.org/robin1.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Story Telling Week 12

How Robin met John

Robin Hood and Little John Meet

Robin Hood needed a break so he left his men. He was just worn out from all the robbing of the rich and giving to the poor, not to mention the tights. The tights were way toooooooooo, well, tight. He wasn’t eating, he was stressed out, and he and Maid Marian had gotten into a quarrel over some young adult novel about, of all things Vampires. True story. So being that he was tired, he decided to take a walk. 

As he was walking he wished he had a pair of Air Jordan’s instead of the ugly leather shoes that were so in fashion during that period. Still he did enjoy the walk because the fresh air helped to clear his mind. Not to mention it was fresh air, I mean have you ever been around a bunch of men in the woods, let alone a bunch of merry men? 

Little John, around the same time that Robin Hood decided to take a walk also thought that he could use a break. Though he had not yet met Robin Hood, he had heard of him and had thought about his own life. He thought about all the time he had wasted eating, drinking ale, eating, and reading a dumb young adult novel about Vampires of all things. He was terribly embarrassed about it. The eating that is. 

Robin came to a bridge and wanted to cross it, unfortunately for him, so did Little John. They both decided to cross the bridge at the same time. When they met in the middle the stopped and looked at each other. Now there was no need for either one of them to be in each other’s way, but it was customary in this day and age to for no apparent reason challenge a person to a fight when you saw them. Even though there was plenty of room for both the men to pass on the bridge, they were men of custom.

Now Robin Hood was a fair fighter. He had a sword and Little John had a wooden pole. Robin would never unfairly attack another man, unless that man had money or if that man was outnumbered, or if that man had money. Being that he was a fair fighter Robin threw down his sword and picked up a wooden pole. 

The two men fought. Well not so much as fought as closed their eyes a swung wildly at one another. Little John knocked Robin in the water and as Robin stood there in the water soaking wet and still hating his tights and wishing he had a pair of Air Jordan 1’s looked up to see his merry men arrive not looking as merry as they could be looking.

They men readied to attack Little John, but Robin stopped them. He walked up to Little John and congratulated him on the duel and invited him to live with them in his camp. Little John asked about their supply of food and ale and when he found out they had plenty agreed to live with them. And that my friends is the very true story of how Robin Hood met Little John.

Author's Notes 

This is a retelling of when Robin Hood met Little John from the Robin Hood Ballad Unit. Of course I did take quite a bit of license with this story, but the stories were in song form and there is a bit of humor to the stories so I tried to mirror that silliness in my story. The main aspects of the story all there. This is from the Ballad Little John.

Bibliography

"Little John" from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads collected by Francis James Child

Picture Attribution

Louis Rhead [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Reading Diary Part B Week 12

Robin and Maid Marian

Robin comes across a Bishop and Robin is in disguise. The Bishop tells Robin that he is taking him to the king, and robin begs for mercy but the Bishop says no. Then robin blows his bugle and his men appear, the Bishop begs for mercy but robin says no. Then little john and Robin steal the man’s gold and make him dance while they escape.

A Woman hides Robin Hood from the Bishop. This is another retelling of how Robin robbed the Bishop. It is pretty much the same story but in this story Robin is dressed as an old woman I think. They rob the Bishop and Little John makes the Bishop sing so that they can escape.

This is the story of Robin and Maid Marian. The story starts out telling how rich and noble and beautiful Marian is. Marian goes into the woods looking for Robin. She is in disguise and so is Robin so when they meet they begin to fight. Robin admires her vallour. They both discover that each is in disguise after a while and then they celebrate. This story ends with Robin and Marian living together.

Picture Attribution
Robin Hood and Maid Marian (poster, ca. 1880)Category:Robin HoodCategory:Maid Marian

Reading Diary Part A Week 12

Robin Hood

The Robin Hood Ballads Unit

Oh These are in song form. So the first story has Robin hood drinking with his men when he finds out about the shooting contest. Robin boasts that he will hit the mark better than anyone. So Robin killed 14 men. Then Robin escapes.

I think I have heard this song before. The robin hood and little john. Talks about meeting little john when he was 20 years old. He was 7 ft tall. Robin hood leaves him men and goes into the forrest and then he came across little john on a bridge. John and Robin fight with one another. John knocks Robin into the water. I think Robins men show up and I believe that John and them fight or are about to fight.Then Little John is named by Robin and he joins Robin in the forrest.

Robin and John try to rod a pedlar and they tell him that they will steal half his stuff. The pedlar tells them they won’t. The pedlar and John fight until John surrenders. Robin laughs at them and says he can beat the pedlar. The pedlar and Robin fight until Robin surrenders. Robin and John and the Pedlar become friends.
In Robin hood Delight the story starts out talking about robin, john, and will.

 They come across three men in the forest and there is an argument about something. Robin challenges them to a fight because they are cowards. Robin and his men could not beat the men. So they goto Nottingham and fight for three days and Robin still couldn’t get the men to give up. Robin says they are honorable and brave and they all become friends.

Picture Attribution\\

• CC BY-SA 3.0
• File:Robin Hood Memorial.jpg
• Uploaded by Soerfm
• Uploaded: February 1, 2013