Then Little John said, “Good master, take thou me and Will Stutely, and we will send yon fat Sheriff news of all this by a messenger such as he doth not expect.”

That day the Sheriff sat at meat in the great hall of his house at Nottingham Town.  Long tables stood down the hall, at which sat men-at-arms and household servants and good stout villains,[Bond-servants.] in all fourscore and more.  There they talked of the day’s shooting as they ate their meat and quaffed their ale.  The Sheriff sat at the head of the table upon a raised seat under a canopy, and beside him sat his dame.

“By my troth,” said he, “I did reckon full roundly that that knave Robin Hood would be at the game today.  I did not think that he was such a coward.  But who could that saucy knave be who answered me to my beard so bravely?  I wonder that I did not have him beaten; but there was something about him that spoke of other things than rags and tatters.”

Then, even as he finished speaking, something fell rattling among the dishes on the table, while those that sat near started up wondering what it might be.  After a while one of the men-at-arms gathered courage enough to pick it up and bring it to the Sheriff.  Then everyone saw that it was a blunted gray goose shaft, with a fine scroll, about the thickness of a goose quill, tied near to its head.  The Sheriff opened the scroll and glanced at it, while the veins upon his forehead swelled and his cheeks grew ruddy with rage as he read, for this was what he saw: 

“Now Heaven bless Thy Grace this day Say all in sweet Sherwood For thou didst give the prize away To merry Robin Hood.”

“Whence came this?” cried the Sheriff in a mighty voice.  “Even through the window, Your Worship,” quoth the man who had handed the shaft to him.

Will Stutely Rescued by His Companions

Now when the sheriff found that neither law nor guile could overcome Robin Hood, he was much perplexed, and said to himself, “Fool that I am!  Had I not told our King of Robin Hood, I would not have gotten myself into such a coil; but now I must either take him captive or have wrath visited upon my head from his most gracious Majesty.  I have tried law, and I have tried guile, and I have failed in both; so I will try what may be done with might.”

Thus communing within himself, he called his constables together and told them what was in his mind.  “Now take ye each four men, all armed in proof,” said he, “and get ye gone to the forest, at different points, and lie in wait for this same Robin Hood.  But if any constable finds too many men against him, let him sound a horn, and then let each band within hearing come with all speed and join the party that calls them.  Thus, I think, shall we take this green-clad knave.  Furthermore, to him that first meeteth with Robin Hood shall one hundred pounds of silver money be given, if he be brought to me dead or alive; and to him that meeteth with any of his band shall twoscore pounds be given, if such be brought to me dead or alive.  So, be ye bold and be ye crafty.”