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.’