The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1883

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Prologue

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Part 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 5, Chapter 1 Summary: “Robin Hood Aideth a Sorrowful Knight”

It is fall in Sherwood Forest, and Robin and the Merry Men go in search of a guest to dine with them. They meet a knight named Sir Richard of the Lea, who is in a serious difficulty. His 20-year-old son killed a knight named Sir Walter of Lancaster in a joust, and Richard had to pay a great sum to save his son from prison. He borrowed money from the Prior of Emmet to help pay the fine, and now his castle and lands are in pawn for the debt he owes. The son, meanwhile, fled England and is now in the Holy Land fighting in the Crusades.

Meanwhile, Little John has stopped the Bishop of Hereford on the road and, with threats and insults, forced him to come to the greenwood tree to dine with the Merry Men. After their feast, Robin Hood explains Sir Richard’s situation to the Bishop and asks him to provide financial aid. He refuses, so Robin divides up the goods from the Bishop’s packhorses to distribute to Sir Richard and to the Merry Men, letting the bishop keep one third of his goods. To prevent the Bishop from making trouble for Sir Richard, Robin makes him stay with the Merry Men for three days in hunting and amusements, then lets him go free.

Part 5, Chapter 2 Summary: “How Sir Richard of the Lea Paid His Debts to Emmet”

Sir Richard, with Little John and other men in attendance, rides to the Priory of Emmet, where the wealthy Prior is dining with the Sheriff of Nottingham and a lawyer and plotting how he will get Sir Richard’s lands. When Sir Richard arrives in the hall, he declares that he has no money to give. The Prior refuses an extension on the payment, and he demands the lands for 100 pounds. Sir Richard surprises the Prior by beckoning to Little John for a leather bag, from which he pours out 300 pounds in exchange for his lands back. Sir Richard retakes possession of his lands, and they prosper.

A year and a day later, Sir Richard attends a fair in Denby. There, David of Doncaster beats a local man named William of the Scar at wrestling and risks being killed by the upset crowd. Sir Richard rides up and drives the crowd away, thus saving David’s life. Sir Richard regards this as payment for the debt of kindness he owes to Robin Hood.

Sir Richard visits Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest, where he pays him back his money doubled four times over and gifts him and the Merry Men with expensive bows, quivers and arrows. Robin Hood is grateful at the news of how Sir Richard saved David’s life.

Part 5 Analysis

The two chapters of Part 5 recount the story of Sir Richard of the Lea, a knight who is being taken advantage of by the rich Prior of Emmet, whom we met in Part 4. Although a “proud and noble” knight (175), Sir Richard has been brought low by the cruel measures of the greedy and scheming cleric. In fact, both of the corrupt clergymen we met in the last chapter reappear in this one: the Prior of Emmet and the Bishop of Hereford. Robin manages to get both Sir Richard and the Bishop of Hereford (who we learn is the richest bishop in England (184)) together in Sherwood Forest for a confrontation.

Robin kindly asks the bishop to lend his aid to the knight, but he merely looks down. This illustrates the lack of charity of the corrupt clerical characters. When Robin redistributes the wealth contained on the bishop’s pack horses, he does so in a gentle and methodical manner. He does not steal everything but allows the priests to retain some luxuries, even though he professes not to understand why they would need them. The bishop is a rich landowner and has gained much money from rental and fines of his estates. Robin takes some of this money and forces the bishop to give it where he should, as a minister of the gospel, have given it all along: to charity. However, showing a temperate side to his nature, Robin allows the bishop to keep one third of the money.

In the second chapter, we see the Prior of Emmet seated at a sumptuous feast at his estate. Again, Pyle emphasizes the inappropriate wealth and rich lifestyle of these clergymen. The prior is in league with the Sheriff of Nottingham and a shrewd lawyer. We get the impression that all the powerful figures in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood are somehow working in concert.

When Sir Richard arrives, the prior does not greet him but immediately asks for his money. Sir Richard faults him for his lack of hospitality. He evokes courtesy, an important concept in medieval chivalry:

“Hast thou so little courtesy that thou wouldst see a true knight kneel for all this time, or see him come into thy hall and never offer him meat or drink?” (193). More harshly, he calls the prior a “false, lying priest” (193) and defends his own record as a knight. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood implies that the knightly class is more virtuous than the powerful class, whether secular or religious.

As a result of Robin’s assistance of Sir Richard, the latter becomes one of Robin’s most loyal friends, even professing his loyalty before King Richard the Lionhearted in the final chapter.