Status
Available
Local notes
398.2 Gre
Collection
Genres
Publication
Puffin (1995), Paperback, 320 pages. $4.99.
Description
Recounts the life and adventures of Robin Hood, who, with his band of followers, lived as an outlaw in Sherwood Forest dedicated to fighting tyranny.
Original publication date
1956: This collection by Richard Lancelyn Green
Physical description
320 p.; 7.82 inches
User reviews
LibraryThing member .Monkey.
Initially, I wasn't too sure what to make of this. There's a lot of action going on, as everyone knows of Robin Hood, but the writing doesn't really have that sort of tone. And, because he collected the stories from the various places that they're found and put them essentially in order, to try to
This wasn't one of my top favorite reads, but I'm really glad that I picked it up, and I'd encourage others to do the same!
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make a fairly chronological account come together to make a novel, some of it is a little repetetive and a little disjointed. But, I started to get a lot more into it more around halfway in, and found it more engaging. Plus I had no idea that the "real" Marion was so amazing!! All the movies stick her in the trite old damsel in distress role (ugh!), but as it turns out, she's every bit as badass as Robin, and probably even more clever. I was astonished, and thrilled! Also, Green put pieces from the old text/songs at the start of each "adventure," which I thought was interesting and clever.This wasn't one of my top favorite reads, but I'm really glad that I picked it up, and I'd encourage others to do the same!
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LibraryThing member Osbaldistone
A wonderful collection of familiar and less familiar Robin Hood tales. Green gives the storytelling and dialogue the feel of older English without making the language a barrier to the younger reader.
This is a great choice to read with your children, though it's not a bad read for anyone interested
The Folio Society edition of 2001 is marvelous to look at, wonderful to hold in the hand, and easy on the eyes when reading in the dim light of bedtime.
This is a great choice to read with your children, though it's not a bad read for anyone interested
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in tales of Olde England. Nearly every chapter is a nice little story of it's own, and of a length just right for a bedtime story.The Folio Society edition of 2001 is marvelous to look at, wonderful to hold in the hand, and easy on the eyes when reading in the dim light of bedtime.
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LibraryThing member BenjaminHahn
A great collection of Robin Hood folktales. Originally collected in the 1950's by R.L. Green, the various stories tend to flow well together. I particularly like the political flavor added by the references to the Norman/Saxon tensions during the time. The very much like the way the collection ends
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in a not so happily ever after sense. I would very much like to see a collection of the primary sources that are used as openers in each of the chapters. Show Less
LibraryThing member katttsu
This story is very exciting. But when I read ending of this book, I was sad.
I respect Robin Hood!!
I respect Robin Hood!!
LibraryThing member drewandlori
A very good version of the Robin Hood legend. Lots of fun.
LibraryThing member sailorfigment
I liked this edition because the author started out chapter with its corresponding lines from the ballads.
LibraryThing member Rosenstern
I was always a big fan of Robin Hood. These were a bunch of short stories based on Robin's adventures. I guess it's the legend that surrounds him, and how he helped the poor. I rooted for him the whole way through. Worth it, if only for the legends.
LibraryThing member SarahDowning
As some of the other reviews states this is a telling of Robin Hood based on old ballads etc.
What I remember most strong from reading it years ago is maid Marian, disguising herself as a forester and beating/almost beating Robin Hood in a quarterstaff fight, and threating to climb out of a window
What I remember most strong from reading it years ago is maid Marian, disguising herself as a forester and beating/almost beating Robin Hood in a quarterstaff fight, and threating to climb out of a window
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if her father imprisoners her to prevent her seeing robin hood. Show Less
LibraryThing member SarahDowning
As some of the other reviews states this is a telling of Robin Hood based on old ballads etc.
What I remember most strong from reading it years ago is maid Marian, disguising herself as a forester and beating/almost beating Robin Hood in a quarterstaff fight, and threating to climb out of a window
What I remember most strong from reading it years ago is maid Marian, disguising herself as a forester and beating/almost beating Robin Hood in a quarterstaff fight, and threating to climb out of a window
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if her father imprisoners her to prevent her seeing robin hood. Show Less
LibraryThing member jknuts1
This book was a good version of the Robin Hood tale. I especially liked the occasional black and white illustrations added to the text since it broke up the long read. It allowed you to construct your own visualizations of the characters and setting, but brought you back on track for some
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clarification and extra details here and there. I also liked the way that he wrote Marian's character differently than most. In this version, Marian was a fighter, and didn't just fill the role of pretty girl needing to be rescued. The big idea of this book is not lawless-ness, but the need for righteousness! Show Less
LibraryThing member bokeef2
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Bryan O'Keeffe
This story was similar to all of the versions that I have read before. However I believe this version is one of the oldest I have read. Regardless I did enjoy this version of Robin Hood, this story is just a classic and is hard to not like. Robin Hood to me
Bryan O'Keeffe
This story was similar to all of the versions that I have read before. However I believe this version is one of the oldest I have read. Regardless I did enjoy this version of Robin Hood, this story is just a classic and is hard to not like. Robin Hood to me
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has always seem like a character that may have actually lived during the middle ages so whenever I read this story I think that Robin Hood was real and very believable. The old story of a man fighting this rich for the poor just stands the test of time to me. The plot is always my favorite part of Robin Hood. Every story has one version to the next. However this version was very simplified but worked very well. Robin Hood was still fighting the Sheriff of Nottingham and still caught the eye of King Richard himself. The illustrations of this version really caught my eye as well. They are done in a late 19th century style which I absolutely love. Only several colors in the illustrations and very bold colors. They enhance this story a lot and make the story feel like it was written long ago. The message is always the same, standing up against the big guy for what is right. Show Less
LibraryThing member books-n-pickles
Live fast, die young.
I read this book aaaaages ago. Middle school? I think that's when I read a bunch of these Puffin Classics. This is definitely exciting action adventure, with Green giving the action most of the emphasis. We're told often that Robin robs the rich and gives to the poor, but
In Green's telling, Robin's adventures are concise and quick--the chapters would make excellent campfire reading.
As an older reader, there were several interesting undercurrents I picked up on:
>> The simmering tensions between the Saxons and the Normans. In history class, invasions, occupations, and colonization often ends up seeming like a done deal, but here's the evidence that all is not well even a hundred years after 1066. I was rather impressed that at two points, Norman fathers whose daughters had married Saxons eventually chose to give up their anger for the sake of family.
>> Clergy were almost entirely corrupt, including Friar Tuck--I remembered (okay, okay, with help from the Russel Crowe movie) that he wasn't exactly a paragon of virtue, but he extorted tolls from travelers! How was that much better than the other clergy?
>> I was happy to see that Marian had as active a role as I remembered--yeah, it's not modern feminism, but she was basically her own action star AND she had some women friends as well, one of whom weilds a mean cudgel.
>> It was also interesting to see how often Robin was beaten by others, and how often he took it in good cheer and invited them to join him, not something you'd associate with gung-ho masculinity these days.
>> I picked up, too, on some dissatisfaction in the ranks for how often Robin Hood would get bored with the regular robbing-the-rich routine and wander off into trouble.
>> He's also not a perfect angel in contrast to the villains, though most movies make him out to be so: in one particularly dark scene (though I'm sure we're meant to see it as justice) he shoots down fifteen men tangentally involved in the death of his good friend.
>> There's more than a whiff of British classism showing through Green's interpretations, with the strict heirarchy of serf, yeoman, judge, knight, lord, etc., treated as the natural order of things; no one who's not insisting that Robin's an outlaw doubts that he is rightfully a lord. King Richard remains a perfect ideal from a distance, despite the fact that he--unlike Robin Hood--cannot escape but needs to be ransomed. And the King is, of course, stronger than Friar Tuck, Little John, and Robin Hood together. Like Robin, despite his responsibilities, he faffs around playing at the Black Knight before announcing himself. Way to get back to work, dude!
But most of the stories are light and airy, tales about Robin winning competitions; going in disguise to humiliate the Sherriff of Nottingham, the local bishop, and Prince John, rescuing friends (he doesn't actually rescue Maid Marian--she gets away from her father, Guy of Gisborne, and Prince John all by herself); and getting into friendly fights that end with a new recruit. There is a weird story with a witch in it, which just seems wildly different from all the rest, and stuck out so much from the other stories that I remembered bits of it over the years even if I didn't remember Will Scarlett or Allan-a-Green, etc. The biggest story of Robin's giving-to-the-poor kindness is when he helps a knight pay off a debt on his lands; other than that, it's all telling rather than showing.
I remember being surprised when I read this book for the first time that it actually ended with Robin's early death. He doesn't get a happily ever after: King John gets his revenge, forcing Robin, Marian, and Little John to flee their estate. In escaping, Robin is mortally wounded, though he somehow manages to play pirate with severe internal injuries before limping his way to the nunnery where Marian has holed up. At least he manages to see her and Little John on his deathbed.
All in all, good fun. Now I can read some of the Robin Hood retellings that I've been meaning to get to!
I read this book aaaaages ago. Middle school? I think that's when I read a bunch of these Puffin Classics. This is definitely exciting action adventure, with Green giving the action most of the emphasis. We're told often that Robin robs the rich and gives to the poor, but
Show More
despite hearing how he takes hundreds of pounds from corrupt church officials, we don't get much indication of where that money goes. At one point he's raising a ransom of King Richard, and later we're told he sent it, but...when and how did it go?In Green's telling, Robin's adventures are concise and quick--the chapters would make excellent campfire reading.
As an older reader, there were several interesting undercurrents I picked up on:
>> The simmering tensions between the Saxons and the Normans. In history class, invasions, occupations, and colonization often ends up seeming like a done deal, but here's the evidence that all is not well even a hundred years after 1066. I was rather impressed that at two points, Norman fathers whose daughters had married Saxons eventually chose to give up their anger for the sake of family.
>> Clergy were almost entirely corrupt, including Friar Tuck--I remembered (okay, okay, with help from the Russel Crowe movie) that he wasn't exactly a paragon of virtue, but he extorted tolls from travelers! How was that much better than the other clergy?
>> I was happy to see that Marian had as active a role as I remembered--yeah, it's not modern feminism, but she was basically her own action star AND she had some women friends as well, one of whom weilds a mean cudgel.
>> It was also interesting to see how often Robin was beaten by others, and how often he took it in good cheer and invited them to join him, not something you'd associate with gung-ho masculinity these days.
>> I picked up, too, on some dissatisfaction in the ranks for how often Robin Hood would get bored with the regular robbing-the-rich routine and wander off into trouble.
>> He's also not a perfect angel in contrast to the villains, though most movies make him out to be so: in one particularly dark scene (though I'm sure we're meant to see it as justice) he shoots down fifteen men tangentally involved in the death of his good friend.
>> There's more than a whiff of British classism showing through Green's interpretations, with the strict heirarchy of serf, yeoman, judge, knight, lord, etc., treated as the natural order of things; no one who's not insisting that Robin's an outlaw doubts that he is rightfully a lord. King Richard remains a perfect ideal from a distance, despite the fact that he--unlike Robin Hood--cannot escape but needs to be ransomed. And the King is, of course, stronger than Friar Tuck, Little John, and Robin Hood together. Like Robin, despite his responsibilities, he faffs around playing at the Black Knight before announcing himself. Way to get back to work, dude!
But most of the stories are light and airy, tales about Robin winning competitions; going in disguise to humiliate the Sherriff of Nottingham, the local bishop, and Prince John, rescuing friends (he doesn't actually rescue Maid Marian--she gets away from her father, Guy of Gisborne, and Prince John all by herself); and getting into friendly fights that end with a new recruit. There is a weird story with a witch in it, which just seems wildly different from all the rest, and stuck out so much from the other stories that I remembered bits of it over the years even if I didn't remember Will Scarlett or Allan-a-Green, etc. The biggest story of Robin's giving-to-the-poor kindness is when he helps a knight pay off a debt on his lands; other than that, it's all telling rather than showing.
I remember being surprised when I read this book for the first time that it actually ended with Robin's early death. He doesn't get a happily ever after: King John gets his revenge, forcing Robin, Marian, and Little John to flee their estate. In escaping, Robin is mortally wounded, though he somehow manages to play pirate with severe internal injuries before limping his way to the nunnery where Marian has holed up. At least he manages to see her and Little John on his deathbed.
All in all, good fun. Now I can read some of the Robin Hood retellings that I've been meaning to get to!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Ghost_Boy
Another book that has just been sitting around collecting dust, kind of my reading goal this summer I'm noticing. Anyways, this is something I really should have read when I first got it because I really like Robin Hood. Robin Hood is still my all time favorite literary hero. Reading this though
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with some knowledge on history you have to realize that there are some real people in this story. King Richard and Prince John were actually kings of England. I wonder if this story was political propaganda than just a simple legendary tale at times. I also wish (maybe it's already out there) someone with research would write a novel about Prince John as a good guy. I'm sure there is non-fiction, but this is a reversal tale that I think would actually work, just throwing ideas out there for others. But yes I really like Robin Hood and seen a ton of movies and tv shows about him, but never actually read anything except for some okish books. I realize this was written in the 1950s and there is older stuff out there (like Ivanhoe which is on my list), but this is a good narrative style for our favorite archer. Show Less
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