Tales of Romance

[Illustration: The Knight repays the four hundred pounds]

"Sir Abbot, and ye men of law, Now have I kept my day! Now shall I have my land again, For aught that you may say."

So he passed out of the hall singing merrily, leaving the Abbot staring silently after him, and rode back to his house, where his wife met him at the gate.

"Welcome, my lord," said his lady, "Sir, lost is all your good." "Be merry, dame," said the Knight, "And pray for Robin Hood.

"But for his kindness, we had been beggars."

PART V.

After this the Knight dwelt at home, looking after his lands and saving his money carefully, till the four hundred pounds lay ready for Robin Hood. Then he bought a hundred bows and a hundred arrows, and every arrow was an ell long, and had a head of silver and peacock's feathers. And clothing himself in white and red, and with a hundred men in his train, he set off to Sherwood Forest.

On the way he passed an open space near a bridge where there was a wrestli