These Fisher Price Classic series were a huge part of my childhood. (I've mentioned them before in connection with my reviews of Treasure Island, Frankenstein, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.)
I mentioned in my Treasure Island review that my love of the Fisher Price Classic Treasure Island caused me to attempt to read the original from the school library, and the same was true for Robin Hood. Although even as a child, I knew that the Robin Hood book wasn't quite the same.
I don't remember where I learned this from. (A parent or teacher must have told me, obviously.) But even as a second grader I knew that the Robin Hood story was an old legend, and thus not attributable to any one book or author in the way that Treasure Island was. But nonetheless, our school library had one of the old classic retellings of Robin Hood, and I felt that this was as close to an original book as I was likely to find.
The version in my elementary school library was from The Educator Classic Library.
Does anyone else remember The Educator Classic Library? According to the Internet, they were published in the late 1960s, but my elementary school library was stocked with them in the 1980s. They were oversized books with very large print, and the difficult terms defined in the margins. In fact, I neglected to mention this in my review of Treasure Island, but the version of Treasure Island I attempted as a kid was also an Educator Classic edition. But, just as 7-year-old me gave up on the Educator Classic edition of Treasure Island, I also gave up on The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. I checked it out from the library, took it home for a couple weeks, and have some memories of trying to read it in my bed at night. But I found it difficult going, made very progress on it, and eventually just returned it to the library unfinished.
The novel is notable for taking the subject of Robin Hood, which had been increasingly popular through the 19th century, in a new direction that influenced later writers, artists, and filmmakers through the next century.
[A bit of Internet research reveals that Maid Marian wasn't in the earliest Robin Hood ballads, and only in a few of the later ones. I think she was a well-established part of the Robin Hood legend by Howard Pyle's time, but that came mostly from later novels and stage plays, and Howard Pyle was using the ballads as his sources. So I think that's why Maid Marian is mentioned, but never appears.]
The news that Robin Hood had come back again to dwell in Sherwood as of old spread like wildfire all over the countryside, so that ere a se'ennight had passed nearly all of his old yeomen had gathered about him again. But when the news of all this reached the ears of King John, he swore both loud and deep, and took a solemn vow that he would not rest until he had Robin Hood in his power, dead or alive. Now there was present at court a certain knight, Sir William Dale, as gallant a soldier as ever donned harness. Sir William Dale was well acquainted with Sherwood Forest, for he was head keeper over that part of it that lay nigh to good Mansfield Town; so to him the King turned, and bade him take an army of men and go straightway to seek Robin Hood. Likewise the King gave Sir William his signet ring to show to the Sheriff, that he might raise all his armed men to aid the others in their chase of Robin. So Sir William and the Sheriff set forth to do the King's bidding and to search for Robin Hood; and for seven days they hunted up and down, yet found him not.
Now, had Robin Hood been as peaceful as of old, everything might have ended in smoke, as other such ventures had always done before; but he had fought for years under King Richard, and was changed from what he used to be. It galled his pride to thus flee away before those sent against him, as a chased fox flees from the hounds; so thus it came about, at last, that Robin Hood and his yeomen met Sir William and the Sheriff and their men in the forest, and a bloody fight followed. The first man slain in that fight was the Sheriff of Nottingham, for he fell from his horse with an arrow in his brain ere half a score of shafts had been sped. Many a better man than the Sheriff kissed the sod that day, but at last, Sir William Dale being wounded and most of his men slain, he withdrew, beaten, and left the forest. But scores of good fellows were left behind him, stretched out all stiff beneath the sweet green boughs. (Epilogue, p.322-323)
"Well then," quoth Robin, "list thou and I will tell, but bear thyself up bravely, for the news is sad, I wot. Thus it is: I hear that two tinkers are in the stocks for drinking ale and beer!""Now a murrain seize thee and thy news, thou scurvy dog," quoth the Tinker, "for thou speakest but ill of good men. But sad news it is indeed, gin there be two stout fellows in the stocks.""Nay," said Robin, "thou hast missed the mark and dost but weep for the wrong sow. The sadness of the news lieth in that there be but two in the stocks, for the others do roam the country at large."
"Truly," quoth he, "the dear world is as fair here as in the woodland shades. Who calls it a vale of tears? Methinks it is but the darkness in our minds that bringeth gloom to the world. For what sayeth that merry song thou singest, Little John? Is it not thus?"For when my love's eyes do thine, do thine,And when her lips smile so rare,The day it is jocund and fine, so fine,Though let it be wet or be fairAnd when the stout ale is all flowing so fast,Our sorrows and troubles are things of the past.""Nay," said Friar Tuck piously, "ye do think of profane things and of nought else; yet, truly, there be better safeguards against care and woe than ale drinking and bright eyes, to wit, fasting and meditation. Look upon me, have I the likeness of a sorrowful man?"At this a great shout of laughter went up from all around, for the night before the stout Friar had emptied twice as many canakins of ale as any one of all the merry men.
And yes, I know, in Robin Hood's times people commonly drank beer instead of water because the water wasn't safe to drink. But that doesn't mean you have to spend so much time praising the taste of ale in 1883.
I guess how you feel morally about all these references to alcohol in a children's book will probably depend on your wider feelings about alcohol. But practically, it struck me as a bit strange. What's the point of constantly telling children how delicious ale is when they can't drink it yet? Isn't that a bit of a tease? (Although I don't know... what was the alcohol culture like in 1883?)
The other theme that comes up again and again in this book is the love of nature. There are constant passages describing either how lovely Sherwood forest is, or how lovely the English countryside is. Below is one example from many:
All the air was laden with the bitter fragrance of the May, and all the bosky shades of the woodlands beyond rang with the sweet song of birds—the throstle cock, the cuckoo, and the wood pigeon—and with the song of birds mingled the cool sound of the gurgling brook that leaped out of the forest shades, and ran fretting amid its rough, gray stones across the sunlit open glade before the trysting tree. And a fair sight was that halfscore of tall, stout yeomen, all clad in Lincoln green, lying beneath the broad-spreading branches of the great oak tree, amid the quivering leaves of which the sunlight shivered and fell in dancing patches upon the grass. (p.89-90)
Robin Hood and his merry men are constantly described as having an idyllic natural existence--either napping peacefully in the mid-day sun, or walking through the beautiful English countryside, or enjoying the beauty of the forest.
Although there are no overtly magical elements in this story, it struck me as a kind of fantasy nonetheless. It is always springtime (not a single one of these stories ever takes place in winter). It was always warm and sunny. The forest is always beautiful (and there are never any mentions of mosquitos or other pests). And everyone lives a peaceful live lazing around in the forest without having to work or worry about anything. Well, of course! That's what you come to a Robin Hood story for, isn't it? For the fantasy of living a merry carefree life out in the forest. (As I mentioned above, the Robin Hood in this book isn't overly concerned about the poor. I mean, if he happens upon some money, he'll give it to them. But he doesn't consider it his duty to constantly be striving to better their lot or anything. He's just out for a good time.)
And the other theme that pops up over and over and over again in this book is: fighting strangers you just met for silly reasons.
One story template that keeps getting repeated is that Robin Hood will be walking along, and then he'll meet someone on his walk. They get into an argument about something silly, and then get into a fight. And then, after beating each other senseless for a while, Robin Hood will congratulate the other on his fighting, and ask him to join his band of Merry Men.
This is the story (repeated in several different chapters) of how Robin Hood first meets Little John. And Friar Tuck. And the Tanner of Blyth. And Will Scarlet.
[Technically Will Scarlet is actually Robin Hood's nephew, but they didn't recognize each other until after the fight, so I'm counting it. And it was actually Little John who fought the Tanner of Blyth, but it was still the same story.]
This is, one suspects, a consequence of the original source material. The original ballads probably contained lots of stories about Robin Hood fighting random people and then asking them to join his band. And probably nobody thought it was repetitive because the ballads were all composed separately. But when you put them all together into one book, you notice the repetitive structure.
...and all this is just to list the people that Robin Hood fought who later went on to become his friends. I haven't even counted the people he fought along the road who stayed enemies. (The beggars, or Guy of Gisbourne).
Robin Hood and his crew liked to fight a lot, is what I'm saying. It's easy to romanticize them when they are outlaws living in the forest, but if they were regularly drinking at the local tavern in your neighborhood, we'd probably call them hooligans.
Occasionally it struck me as a strange juxtaposition that the passages of Robin Hood and his men talking about their love of nature would occur in the same chapters in which Robin Hood and his men were so pugnacious, and I'd wonder if it was a contradiction. But I'm not sure it is. I personally tend to associate the idealization of nature with innocence and peace, but on a purely logical basis, there's no reason why a love of fighting and a love of nature would be mutually exclusive, right?
Illustrations
I'm going to take a minute to complain about the illustrations in the edition I read. This might not be relevant if you are reading a different edition.
Howard Pyle was (according to his Wikipedia Bio) just as famous for being an illustrator as for being an author.
Strange, then, that the edition I got from the library--2004 Sterling Publishing Co., the edition pictured at the top of this blog post--contains none of Howard Pyle's original illustrations. Instead, they hired a new illustrator, Scott McKowen, to do scratchboard illustrations instead. The scratchboard drawings are okay, I guess, but why not go with Howard Pyle's originals? (I don't know. I'm guessing maybe they would have taken up too much ink?)
Because this book is public domain now, the original illustrations are all freely available online. (See Wikimedia Commons Page). So at least I got to see what I was missing out on. But it would have been nice to have them in the book.
...and speaking of Howard Pyle...
Based on his Wikipedia page, Howard Pyle seems like an interesting guy who did a lot of fantasy and adventure books. I'd be interested in reading more of him.
At my library, they have The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle, so I'll be reading that one next.
Comparisons with the 1984 Fisher Price Classic Version
So, this is probably only of interest to me, but having begun this review by talking about my childhood nostalgia for the Fisher Price Classic Version, I should compare the two.
I've gone ahead and re-listened to the Fisher Price Version as I was writing this.
Fisher Price - Robin Hood
To talk about all the little details that are the same or different would take way too long. I'll just say that almost all of the stories that are in the Fisher Price version are also in Howard Pyle's version. (Howard Pyle's novel also has tons more stories that aren't included in the Fisher Price version.)
The only story that is in the Fisher Price version, but not in Howard Pyle's version, is Robin Hood meeting Maid Marian.
The story of the death of Robin Hood at the end is especially similar across both versions
Other Notes
* Add this book to my list of "Classic Books Which are Actually Fun to Read"
April 4, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.0-106
April 11, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.106-144
April 18, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.144-160
April 25, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.160-182
May 2, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.182-210
May 9, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.210-276
May 16, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.276-296
May 23, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.296-327, (finished)
May 30, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.0-10
Video Review (Playlist HERE)
Video Review HERE and embedded below:
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