The Howard Pyle version of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood seemed to be the version with the most editions available, so I figured that would be a good starting place for Robin Hood stories. Silly me once again forgot that I had already purchased the Audible version of the book (the Audible version is not free, but I think I got it as a daily deal or something) and got the Kindle version too. Since the Kindle version is a cheap edition of a really old book, I did not particularly expect the Kindle and audiobooks to sync up, but they actually did pretty well together.
John Lee does a great job with the narration, voicing everybody from the evil Guy of Gisbourne to the shifty Sheriff of Nottingham with fine distinction. He even sings all the many songs in the book in character very well. According to the section in the Kindle book about the author (this part was not in the audiobook version) Howard Pyle based his version of the Robin Hood stories on a 1795 collection of ballads, so nearly every tale, especially in the first part of the book, has a merry song or two in it.
Apparently, there is no original manuscript to base a rendition of the Robin Hood stories on so this collection of ballads may be as close to an original source as we are likely to get. In consequence, while the language of these stories has a suitably Medieval cast to it, it is nevertheless reasonably easy to understand. It’s not like trying to read Middle English or anything.
And yet, the stories are set in a time when Middle English would not have been so far off the mark. This collection actually focuses on a time period somewhat earlier than the more recent popular renditions of Robin Hood in the movies. Throughout most of the book, the King is King Henry II. In fact, Henry and his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, appear in a couple of the stories. Queen Eleanor sponsors Robin Hood and some of his men in a tournament, and King Henry, upset that they have beaten some of his favorites, hunts them all over the north of England. This must have been during the time Henry and Eleanor weren’t getting along so well.
There were many stories in this book that I had not heard before, or barely heard references to somewhere. And a lot of the stories found in recent renditions of Robin Hood are not there. For instance, Maid Marian is mentioned about three times as the girl Robin Hood loves best, but her story is not told at all. Instead, we have the story of Allan A Dale and his true love, Ellen, and how Robin Hood saved fair Ellen from marrying an old knight so that she could marry the minstrel instead. Guy of Gisbourne is not a knight but another outlaw with an evil reputation whom the Sheriff of Nottingham has hired to kill Robin Hood. And it is King Richard who, after his father’s death and his own accession to the throne, finally catches Robin Hood – and takes him into his personal service.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
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Top reviews from other countries
Bethany
A precious addition to anyone's personal library.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 10, 2021
Bethany
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Looks amazing!
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Beautiful Book!
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