“There is pith in your arm,” said Robin.  “Come, shoot a-main with me.”  And the King took up a bow, and in so doing his hat fell back and Robin saw his face.

“My lord the King of England, now I know you well,” cried he, and he fell on his knees and all the outlaws with him.  “Mercy I ask, my lord the King, for my men and me.”

“Mercy I grant,” then said the King, “and therefore I came hither, to bid you and your men leave the greenwood and dwell in my court with me.”

“So it shall be,” answered Robin, “I and my men will come to your court, and see how your service liketh us.”

“Have you any green cloth,” asked the King, “that you could sell to me?” and Robin brought out thirty yards and more, and clad the King and his men in coats of Lincoln green.  “Now we will all ride to Nottingham,” said he, and they went merrily, shooting by the way.

The people of Nottingham saw them coming, and trembled as they watched the dark mass of Lincoln green drawing near over the fields.  “I fear lest our King be slain,” whispered one to another, “and if Robin Hood gets into the town there is not one of us whose life is safe”; and every man, woman, and child made ready to fly.

The King laughed out when he saw their fright, and called them back.  Right glad were they to hear his voice, and they feasted and made merry.  A few days later the King returned to London, and Robin dwelt in his court for twelve months.  By that time he had spent a hundred pounds, for he gave largely to the knights and squires he met, and great renown he had for his openhandedness.

But his men who had been born under the shadow of the forest, could not live amid streets and houses.  One by one they slipped away, till only little John and Will Scarlett were left.  Then Robin himself grew home-sick, and at the sight of some young men shooting thought upon the time when he was accounted the best archer in all England, and went straightway to the King and begged for leave to go on a pilgrimage to Bernisdale.

“I may not say you nay,” answered the King; “seven nights you may be gone and no more.”  And Robin thanked him, and that evening set out for the greenwood.

It was early morning when he reached it at last, and listened thirstily to the notes of singing birds, great and small.

“It seems long since I was here,” he said to himself; “It would give me great joy if I could bring down a deer once more,” and he shot a great hart, and blew his horn, and all the outlaws of the forest came flocking round him.  “Welcome,” they said, “our dear master, back to the greenwood tree,” and they threw off their caps and fell on their knees before him in delight at his return.

For two and twenty years Robin Hood dwelt in Sherwood forest after he had run away from court, and naught that the King could say would tempt him back again.  At the end of that time he fell ill; he neither ate nor drank, and had no care for the things he loved.  “I must go to merry Kirkley,” said he, “and have my blood let.”