‘Friar Tuck does not like the abbot because the abbot takes a lot of
money from the villagers,’ answered Marian. ‘Friar Tuck says that the
church has to help poor people.’
‘Mm,’ said her father.! ‘The abbot does live very well. He is a greedy
man. Friar Tuck is greedy too - he eats more than ten men! But he is a
brave man and very strong. Yes, take Friar Tuck with you.’
Chapter 10 Marian Goes to Sherwood Forest
Very early next morning, Marian put on boy's clothes and a boy's hat
and woke up Friar Tuck. The friar took his staff and Marian took her
bow and arrows. Then they left the house and walked on the Great North
Road through the forest.
After some hours, the friar suddenly left the road and sat down under
a tree.
‘Please let's stop, My Lady,’ he said. ‘We had no breakfast and I am
very hungry!’
Marian laughed.
‘I am sorry, Friar Tuck,’ she said, ‘You are right, we will eat now.
Stay here. I will take your staff and my bow and arrow, and catch some
animals. "We can cook them here in the forest.’
Marian left the friar and moved quietly between the forest trees. She
saw a deer. Very quietly, she took out an arrow and put it to her bow.
‘Stop there, boy!’ said a man behind her. The man spoke very loudly.
The deer jumped at the noise and ran away into the trees. Marian was
very angry. She turned to the speaker but he wore a big hood. She
couldn't see his face.
‘Well, boy,’ said the man. ‘Don't you know that you cannot eat the
king's deer? The Sheriff of Nottingham killed two men last week
because they caught a deer.’
19
‘I am not afraid of the sheriff,’ said Marian, ‘or of you. Leave now
- or fight!’
‘Fight with you?’ the man laughed. ‘But you are only a boy! Well,
you have a staff and I have one too. I will fight with you -with one
hand!’
Marian fought well. She was strong and quick. With only one
hand, the man could not win. She hit him again and again on his head
and across his back.
‘Stop, stop!’ he laughed. ‘You are young, but you are a good
fighter.’ He threw back his hood. ‘I am Robin Hood. Will you come
with me, and be one of my men?’
‘Robin!’ said Marian, and threw back her hood too. Her lovely red
hair fell down her back.
‘Marian!’ answered Robin. ‘What are you doing here, in the forest
? Is nobody with you ?’
‘I am with a friend, Friar Tuck,’ said Marian, ‘and he is very
hungry! The deer was for him. But I think that he will be happy to eat
at Robin Hood's table.’
She and Robin went back to the road and looked for Friar Tuck.
They called his name but there was no answer.
‘Poor man!’ said Marian. ‘Perhaps he is looking for me. Perhaps
he thinks that the sheriff's men caught me!’
Then she told Robin about her father and the sheriff.
‘I cannot go home now, Robin,’ she said. ‘I want to be with you
here, in Sherwood Forest. Friar Tuck will marry us. Let's find him.
Perhaps he will want to live with us.’
Chapter 11 Robin Hood and Friar Tuck
They did not find Friar Tuck that day, so Marian stayed with her uncle.
She came each day to the forest.
‘Another friar lives at my uncle's home,’ she told Robin, ‘but he is
a weak man. He doesn't want to marry us because he is