Instructor Literature Series—No. 212
By
BERTHA E. BUSH
Published Jointly By
F. A. OWEN PUB. CO., DANSVILLE, N. Y.
HALL & McCREARY,—CHICAGO, ILL.
STORIES OF
ROBIN HOOD
BY
Bertha E. Bush
PUBLISHED JOINTLY BY
F. A. OWEN PUB. CO., Dansville, N. Y.
HALL & McCREARY, Chicago, Ill.
Copyright, 1912, by
F. A. OWEN PUBLISHING CO
Robin Hood
WINNING THE SHERIFF'S GOLDEN ARROW
HOW LITTLE JOHN JOINED ROBIN HOOD
ALLEN-A-DALE AND FRIAR TUCK
ROBIN HOOD AND THE SORROWFUL KNIGHT
ROBIN HOOD AND THE KING
DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD
ROBIN HOOD AND ALLEN-A-DALE
INSTRUCTOR LITERATURE SERIES
EXCELSIOR LITERATURE SERIES
"And what of Peter the Ploughman? He was a good friend of mine."
"Alack, Peter the Ploughman hath been hanged and his wife and little ones turned out of their home to beg."
The father of young Robin Hood with his little son at his side, had met a man from his old home and was eagerly questioning him about the welfare of his old neighbors. But much of the news was sad, for the times were evil in England. The Normans had conquered the country and were the lords and officials in the land, and they cruelly oppressed the common people, who were Saxons. The father said not a word although his face grew very sad, but the boy beside him burst out indignantly.
"But why should such a thing be done? Peter the Ploughman was one of the best men I ever knew and his wife was as good and kind as an angel. Why should such a dreadful thing be done to them?"
"Because he shot deer in the king's forest. But indeed he had an excuse for breaking the law if ever a man did. His crops had been destroyed by the huntsmen riding through them. The tax collector had taken all that he had, and his children were crying for hunger. He shot the deer that they might have food to eat; but the sheriff caught him and hung him for it. As to the reason why his wife was turned out from[Pg 4] her home with her orphan children, the abbot wanted that bit of ground for an extension to his garden, so out the poor folks must go."
"It's a shame," cried the boy with flashing eyes. "Such laws as that are wicked laws and ought to be broken. The greedy lords and rich, ease-loving churchmen strip the people bare and go rolling in wealth while the rest of the people are starving."
"Hush, boy, hush," said the news-teller warningly. "Our England is indeed cruelly misgoverned, but it is not safe to say so, for the very walls have ears and many have been hanged because their tongues wagged too freely, as well as for shooting the king's deer."
"But the king,—the king is good," faltered the boy. He had been taught to love and reverence the king.
"The king would be a good king if he would stay at home and govern his people. But he is off at war all the time, and the nobles and officers he appoints grind the people as a miller grinds the wheat between his great millstones. They rob them continually, and the rich are growing richer and more greedy and the poor growing poorer and more miserable all the time."
"When I am a man," said the boy, Robin Hood, "I will make the rich give up a portion of their wealth to the poor, and then all will be provided for."
It was not strange, perhaps, considering the evils of the times, that this boy, Robin Hood, when he became a man, did do just what he said, and gathered a band of men about him in the forest whose pledged purpose was to despoil the rich of ill-gotten wealth and lend a helping hand to the poor. The Normans called them "highway robbers," but the common people called them "the merry men of greenwood" and loved them, for they were often helped out of trouble by them.[Pg 5] Their robbing was certainly wrong according to our standards, but Robin Hood did not think it was wrong. He took from the rich what they had wrung unjustly from the poor to give it back to the poor, and he thought that it was right. Outlaw though he was, he stood ever for justice and fairness as he saw it. He was loyal to the king, though he resisted the unjust exactions made in the king's name. He was loyal to the church and prayed most reverently for himself and his band. It was his pride that he and his men had never harmed a woman, or burned a haystack, or robbed a husbandman, or hurt a parish priest. The Normans did all these things. Compared with their actions, Robin Hood's standards were wonderfully high.
He was trying to be a reformer; and though he went about his work in a wrong way, still he did much good. As the quaint old ballad says about him—in queer spelling which I revise,
He was brave and kind and merry always, and all the English people—except England's oppressors—loved him with all their hearts and delighted in his adventures. The story of what he did was put into songs and sung at every fireside; and no man was better loved than this outlaw with a price upon his head.
Here are a few stories of Robin Hood and his men, and a great many more may be found which are well worth your reading.
It was very pleasant in Sherwood Forest to those who did not fear hardship, and Robin Hood and his men came to love every tree that grew and every bird that sang there. They did not mind that they had no houses to live in. They made themselves shelters of bark and logs to keep the rain off, and mostly they stayed in the open. They did not sigh for soft beds or fine tables and furnishings. They put down rushes and spread deer skins over them to lie on, and slept under the stars. They cooked over a great fire built beside a big tree, and they sat and ate on the ground.
More than a hundred men were in Robin Hood's band; every one was devoted to him and obeyed his slightest word. They were the best archers, the best wrestlers, the best runners and the best wielders of cudgel and quarter-staff in all the country, and they grew better continually, for they practiced these things every day.
Robin Hood was the best archer in all the land. Even the king had heard of his wonderful marksmanship, and even though he knew him an outlaw, he had an admiring and almost kindly feeling for this bold outlaw who shot so marvelously well. But the greedy lords and churchmen who oppressed the people hated Robin Hood; and the sheriff of Nottingham hated him most of all, and wished above all things to hang him on the gallows.
He was a cruel, hard man with no kindness in his bosom, and all his spite was turned against Robin Hood, because every time that he tried to catch him, Robin outwitted him. Now he was especially angered, for he had sent a messenger with a warrant to take Robin Hood and the merry Robin had met the messenger and feasted him, and then, while he was asleep[Pg 7] after the feast, stolen the very warrant out of his pocket so that he had to go back to the sheriff without man or warrant either. So the sheriff of Nottingham used all his wits to get another plan to take Robin Hood. It was plainly of no use to send men, no matter how stout, with warrants after him. He must be coaxed into their clutches.
"I have it," said the sheriff of Nottingham at last, with a very sour look on his grim face. "I'll catch him by craft. I'll proclaim a great archery festival, and get all the best archers in England to come here to shoot. I'll offer for the prize an arrow of beaten gold. That will be sure to fetch Robin Hood and his men here, and then I'll catch them and hang them."
Now Robin Hood and his men did come to the archery contest. But they did not come in the suits of Lincoln green that they wore as men of the forest. Each man dressed himself up to seem somebody else. Some appeared as barefoot friars, some as traveling tinkers or tradesmen, some as beggars, and some as rustic peasants. Robin Hood was the hardest to recognize of all.
"Don't go, master," his men had begged. "This archery contest is just a trap to catch you. The sheriff of Nottingham and his men will be looking for you and they will know you by your hair and eyes and face and height, even if you wear different clothes. The sheriff has made this festival just to lure you to death. Don't go."
But Robin Hood laughed merrily.
"Why, as to my yellow hair, I can stain that with walnut stain. As to my eyes, I can cover one of them with a patch and then my face will not be recognized. I would scorn to be afraid, and if an adventure is somewhat dangerous, I like it all the better."
So Robin Hood went, clad from top to toe in tattered[Pg 8] scarlet, the raggedest beggarman that had ever been seen in Nottingham. The field where the contest was to be held was a splendid sight. Rows and rows of benches had been built on it for the gentlefolk to sit on, and they wore their best clothes and were gayer than birds of paradise. As for the sheriff and his wife, they wore velvet, the sheriff purple and his lady blue. Their rich garments were trimmed with ermine. They wore broad gold chains around their necks, and the sheriff had shoes with wondrously pointed toes that were fastened to his gold-embroidered garters by golden chains. Oh! they were dressed very splendidly, and if their faces had been kind, they would have looked beautiful. But their faces were full of pride and hate. The sheriff was looking everywhere with spiteful glances for Robin Hood, and very cross he was that he did not see Robin there.
But Robin was there, though the sheriff did not see him. There he stood in his ragged beggar's garments, not ten feet away from the sheriff.
The targets were placed eighty yards from where the archers were to stand. Pace that off, and see what a great distance it is. There were a great number of archers to shoot and each was to have one shot. Then the ten who shot best were to shoot two arrows each; and the three who shot best out of the ten were to shoot three arrows apiece. The one who came nearest to the center of the target was to get a prize.
The sheriff looked gloweringly at the ten.
"I was sure that Robin Hood would be among them," he said to the man-at-arms at his side. "Could no one of these ten be Robin Hood in disguise?"
"No," answered the man-at-arms. "Six of these I know well. They are the best archers in England. There is Gill o' the Red Cap, Diccon Cruikshank,[Pg 9] Adam o' the Dell, William o' Leslie, Hubert o' Cloud, and Swithin o'Hertford. Of the four beside, one is too tall and one too short and one not broad-shouldered enough to be Robin Hood. There remains only this ragged beggar, and his hair and beard are much too dark to be Robin Hood's, and beside, he is blind in one eye. Robin Hood is safe in Sherwood Forest."
Even as he spoke, the man-at-arms was glad, for he was but a common soldier, and he loved Robin Hood and wished no harm to come to him. One reason why Robin Hood got away from the sheriff so many times was that the common people, even among the sheriff's own men, were friendly to him and helped him all they could. The gatekeepers shut their eyes when Robin Hood went through the gates that they might say they had not seen him enter. Hardly any one would betray him, and many, when they knew of evil being planned against him, sent warning to him. But even the man-at-arms who loved him did not recognize Robin Hood today.
The ten made wonderful shots. Not one arrow failed to come within the circles that surrounded the center. But when the three shot, it was more wonderful still. Gill o' the Red Cap's first arrow struck only a finger's breadth from the center, and his second was nearer still. But the beggar's arrow struck in the very center. Adam o' the Dell, who had one more shot, unstrung his bow when he saw it.
"Fourscore years and more have I shot shaft, and beaten many competitors, but I can never better that," he said.
The prize of the golden arrow belonged to the tattered beggar, but the sheriff's face was very sour as he gave it to him. He tried to induce him to enter his service, promising great wages.
"You are the best archer I have ever seen," he said. "I trow you shoot even better than that rascal and coward of a Robin Hood who dared not show his face here today. Will you join my service?"
"No, I will not," answered the scarlet-clad stranger, and then the sheriff looked at him so spitefully that he knew it was well to get away. As he walked toward Sherwood Forest, the sheriff's words rankled.
"I cannot bear to have even my enemy think that I am a coward," he said to Little John. "I wish there was a way to tell the sheriff that it was Robin Hood that won his golden arrow."
And they found a way. That evening the sheriff sat at supper, and though the supper was a fine one, his face was gloomy.
"I thought I could catch that rascal Robin Hood by means of this archery contest," he said to his wife, "but he was too much of a coward to show his face here."
Just then something came through the window and fell rattling among the dishes on the table. It was a blunted gray goose quill with a bit of writing tied to it. The sheriff unfolded the writing. It told that it was Robin Hood who had won the golden arrow. When the sheriff read it, even his wife thought best to slip away, for he was the crossest man in Nottingham.
This is the story of how Robin gained his right hand man and dearest friend, Little John. Little John was one of the tallest and strongest youths that ever walked through a forest. When Robin Hood first saw him, he was walking in the edge of the forest and came to a[Pg 11] narrow bridge across a stream. The bridge was so narrow that but one could go across it at once, and it chanced that Robin Hood stepped upon it from one side just as Little John stepped on the other end.
"Go back, and let the better man cross before you," called Robin Hood, not because he cared a bit but rather with a mirthful wish to see what the tall youth would do.
"Stand back yourself. I am the better man," cried the stranger.
"Let us fight for it," said Robin Hood, who loved a good bout more than his dinner.
"With all my heart," answered the stranger.
Then Robin cut him a stick of oak to serve as a quarter-staff, for he would have held it a shame to use his bow and arrows when the other had no such weapon, and they met as joyously as two boys wrestling for sport.
"The one who can knock the other into the water is the better man," said Robin. Then the fight with the staves began. What a fight it was! They struck again and again, but so skilful was each one in warding off blows that neither could knock the other down. Many hard blows each one took, until there were sore bones and bumps, and black and blue spots in plenty, but neither thought of stopping for that. A whole hour they fought there on the bridge, and neither could get the better of the other, then another hour. At last Robin gave the stranger a terrible whack that made him stagger, but the stranger returned with a crack on the crown that made the blood flow. Robin whacked back at him savagely, but the stranger avoided the blow and gave one to Robin that tumbled him fairly into the water.
He lay there looking up and laughing, for Robin Hood never bore any malice.
"You have a right sturdy hand with the cudgel. Never have I been beaten before," he laughed. He splashed ashore and seized the stranger's hand.
"I like you well," he said. "Now watch, and I will show you something."
He put his horn to his lips and blew, and up came two score of Robin Hood's followers, all clothed in Lincoln green, and bearing bows and arrows and swords.
"How is this, master?" said the foremost. "You are all bruised and wet to the skin."
"Yon sturdy fellow has given me a drubbing and tumbled me into the water," he said.
"Then he shall get a ducking and a drubbing himself," said Will Stutely, starting forth angrily, followed by half a dozen, all eager to carry out his threat. But Robin Hood ordered him back.
"No," he said, "it was a fair fight, and he won. I would not have you hurt him for anything. But he is a right brave and lusty youth and I would fain have him in our band. Will you join yourself to my men?" he asked of the wondering stranger. "I am Robin Hood, and my band is the finest in all England."
Hardly a man in the country but would have trembled at the name. But John Little, the strange youth, was afraid of no man.
"If there is any man among you who can shoot a better shaft than I, I will," he said.
"Well, I will try," said Robin. He sent Will Stutely to set up a piece of white bark four fingers in breadth on an oak eighty yards away.
"Now choose any of our bows and arrows to shoot with," he said.
The stranger chose the very stoutest bow. Then he aimed his arrow carefully and sent it down the path[Pg 13] and it struck the very center of the mark. All Robin Hood's followers caught their breaths in amaze.
"That is a fine shot indeed," said Robin Hood heartily. "No one could better it; but perhaps I may mar it."
Then he shot an arrow; and so true and swift it sped that it struck the stranger's arrow and splintered it into pieces. And all who saw it cried out that there never was such shooting before.
"Now, will you not come into my band?" said Robin Hood with a smile.
"With all my heart," answered the stranger; and from that minute he loved Robin as his dearest friend.
"What is your name?" said Will Stutely, taking out a tablet as though he would enroll it.
"John Little," answered the stranger youth.
"I like not the name," said merry Will. "This fellow is too small to be called John Little. Let us christen him over, Little John."
And so they had a christening and great sport; and from that day Little John was Robin's right hand man and second in command over the band. True and faithfully did he serve Robin for many years and loved him better with every year.
This is the story of a merry friar and how he came to belong to Robin Hood's band. But it begins with the story of a sad youth with a harp in his hand, who could sing as sweetly as a thrush but who thought that he would never sing again for his heart was breaking. Robin Hood and his men found him in the forest, lying prone on the ground and sobbing as if he would weep his eyes out.
"Get up! Get up!" shouted Will Stutely, poking him with his foot. "I do hate to see a tall young fellow snivelling like a girl of fourteen over a dead bird."
But Robin Hood bade the others stand back, and touched the boy kindly.
"You are in trouble," he said. "Do not mind what these fellows say. They are rough, but their hearts are kind. Come with me and tell me what is wrong."
"Everything is wrong," said Allen-a-Dale miserably, and it was true that things were going very badly with him. For his true love and promised bride had been forced to give him up and promise her hand to a rich old knight who won her father's favor by means of his money.
"She will marry the old knight if her father bids her," cried Allen-a-Dale, "for she thinks it right to be an obedient daughter; but I know it will break her heart and she will die."
"Now this thing shall not be," cried Little John, starting forward. "Master, can we not prevent such a wrong?"
"We will see," answered Robin Hood.
"But she is to be married in two days."
"Then we will go to the church and see that she is married to you instead of the old knight. But we will need to find a priest who will marry you."
"Then I know the very priest," said Will Scarlet. "It is jolly Friar Tuck who lives in Fountain Dale."
"Then let us go and get him at once. We have no time to lose," said Robin Hood; and out they started without delay. Little John, Will Scarlet, young David of Doncaster, and Arthur-a-Bland went with him. They wore their best clothes.
"For," said Robin Hood, "we must look brave when we go to a wedding."
After they had walked a whole morning, they came to the bend in the river beyond which Friar Tuck dwelt. But his cell was across the river and to get to it they would have to wade through.
"Well," said Robin Hood, "had I known I would have to wade the river I would not have put on my best clothes."
Then he left his men, bidding them listen if his bugle should sound, and went on alone. As soon as he was out of sight of them, he thought he heard voices. There seemed to be two men talking on the river bank below, but the voices were wondrously alike. Robin Hood slipped to the edge and looked over.
With his broad back against a willow tree, sat a stout, brawny fellow in the robe of a friar, but no other man was by. He held a great pie in his lap, made of tender, juicy meats, compounded with young onions and other toothsome vegetables, which he munched at sturdily. As he ate he talked, and, listening to him, Robin Hood almost died of laughing. For the merry friar was pretending to be two people. He would offer a piece of the pasty first to his right hand and then to his left, with much politeness, and go through the same actions with a bottle of drink that he had. Robin looked and listened till the pie was all gone and the bottle empty. Then the monk began to urge his imaginary companion to sing.
"Now, sweet lad," he said to himself, "canst thou not tune me a song?" And then he answered himself bashfully.
"La, I know not. I am but in ill voice this day. Prythee, ask me not: dost thou not hear how I croak like a frog?"
Then he spoke again as the first one.
"Nay, nay, thy voice is as sweet as any bullfinch. Come sing, prythee. I would rather hear thee sing than eat a fair feast."
And so it went on till he began singing and that was as two persons, too. The song he sang was a duet between a youth and a maid, and he sung the maiden's part very high and squeaky and the youth's very deep and gruff. It was the funniest thing you can imagine, and when the last chorus was reached Robin Hood could hold in no more but joined in with the singing lustily.
Then the friar leaped forth, crying, "What spy have we here?" and from beneath his monk's robe he drew forth a sword as heavy and stout as any that Robin Hood's band carried.
"Put up thy sword, friend," called Robin. "Folks that have sung together should not fight." And then he leaped down beside the friar.
"Do you know the country round about, good and holy man?" he asked.
"Yes, somewhat," answered the friar cautiously.
"And do you know a spot called Fountain Dale, and a certain monk who is called the Curtal Friar of Fountain Abbey?"
"Yes, somewhat."
"Is it across the river?" asked Robin Hood.
"Yes," answered the monk.
"Do you know whether this friar is now on the other side of the river or on this side?" asked Robin.
"That," answered the friar very deliberately, "is something you will have to find out for yourself."
This angered Robin, and indeed it was not at all civil.
"Well," he said, "if I must cross the river, I must ask you to carry me across, for you can see that my clothes are such as the water would injure."
At first the friar was angry at the request, but soon a different thought seemed to come to him and he laughed.
"Well," he said, "if the holy St. Christopher carried pilgrims across the river, perhaps I ought to do so also. Give me your sword that it may not get wet, and I will carry you."
So he tucked his own sword and Robin's under his arm, bent his back for Robin to get on it, and waded across the water. He put Robin down very gently on the other bank, but he did not give him back his sword.
"Thanks, good father," said Robin. "Give me my sword, and I will away."
"Nay, good youth," answered the friar, pointing the sword at Robin. "You see, I got wet crossing the river. It is necessary for me to cross again, but I fear if I got wet once more I might get a crick in my back that would hinder my prayers. I pray thee, carry me back."
He had the sword, and there was nothing for Robin to do but to obey. So he carried the friar back, and it was harder than for the friar to carry him. But while they were in the stream he managed to loosen Friar Tuck's sword belt so that when they got to land he snatched it off. Now Robin Hood had the two swords.
"Now carry me across again," he said.
It is a long story; but the end of it is that Friar Tuck carried Robin Hood half way across the river, and there dumped him into the water "to cool off," as he said. Then Robin fought with him; but, though they fought together with might and main for hours, neither could overcome the other. And so they ceased to fight and became friends; and Friar Tuck willingly consented to go with him and perform the marriage between Allen-a-Dale and his fair Ellen, no matter what a pother it raised.
So now Robin Hood and a score of his merry men set out to the wedding which was to be held in Emmet Church. Robin Hood was dressed as a strolling minstrel, and across his shoulders he had slung a harp. Leaving the most of his followers in hiding a little distance from the church, he went in boldly.
It was to be a very grand wedding, and the Bishop of Hereford himself was to perform the ceremony. He came with a long train of followers, and as he entered he saw Robin with his harp beside the door.
"Now, who are you?" he asked, well pleased, for everybody loved to see a minstrel.
"I am a harper from the north country," answered Robin Hood. "I can play such music as never another in all England can do. For there is magic in my harping, and if I play at this wedding, it will insure that the fair bride shall love the man she marries with her whole heart all her life long."
"Marry then, let him play," said Sir Stephen, the old bridegroom. He knew that it was her father's will instead of her own wish that made the fair Ellen marry him. But he did not know that she loved another, for her father had concealed it from him.
And now the bride's father brought in the bride, and she was the most beautiful maiden they had ever seen. But she was pale and wan and she drooped on her father's arm like a broken lily.
"How is this?" cried Robin Hood. "A bride should be like a blushing rose. Maiden, is it of your own free will that you wed with this knight?"
"No, no," sobbed fair Ellen. "I wish to wed no one but my own true love, Allen-a-Dale the minstrel."
"Then Allen-a-Dale ye shall wed," cried Robin Hood, and set his bugle to his lips and blew. The followers who had entered the church and Friar Tuck[Pg 19] came running down the aisles and gathered around him. Then came a scene of confusion. The bishop of Hereford, the prior of Emmet and all his train commanded the people to seize Robin Hood, but they would not do it. The old knight who was the bridegroom sought to draw his sword, but he wore no sword on his wedding day.
"At them and slay them," he cried to his men-at-arms. But just at that minute there came running up at double quick the rest of Robin Hood's men, with swords drawn and bows and arrows hanging at their backs.
"I will depart," said the bridegroom to the bride's father. "I would not marry your daughter now for all the kingdom of England."
He spoke angrily, for he felt that he had been cheated, not knowing that the maiden loved some one else. The prior of Emmet, calling his train, also departed in high displeasure, and the bishop of Hereford would have gone too, but Robin bade him stay.
"Now," he said, "we will have a wedding, and fair Ellen shall marry Allen-a-Dale."
"Ye cannot." The prior of Emmet turned back to say this. "You have no priest to marry them."
"Am I not a priest?" bellowed Friar Tuck, so fiercely that the prior shook in his pointed shoes and made haste to get away.
"But the banns have not been published," said the bride's father.
"I will publish them," roared Friar Tuck; and the old song says that he cried them three times, the number required by law, and then, lest that should not be enough, he cried them six times more.
"But I cannot be married without my father's blessing," sobbed Ellen, for she was ever an obedient daughter.
"There, there, don't cry," said Robin Hood gently. "I will get your father's blessing." Then he called to Will Stutely.
"Give me the two bags of gold I bade you bring." He strode up to Ellen's father with a bag of gold in each hand.
"Here are two hundred golden angels," he said. "If you give your daughter your blessing on this her wedding day, I will give you these as her dower. If you give her not the blessing, she shall be married just the same, but not a cracked farthing shalt thou have."
The father looked at the gold and then at Robin Hood. He knew the knight was gone and would not come back.
"Well," he said, but not happily, "I will give her my blessing."
So the wedding went on; and after it was over they went to Sherwood Forest and held the merriest feast that ever was held in that merry place. And Allen-a-Dale and his bride lived happy all the rest of their lives, and he sang such beautiful songs that his fame went all over England. As for Friar Tuck, he liked Robin Hood and his band so much that he never went back to Fountain Dale but became one of Robin Hood's merry men.
"We have had no guests for a long time," said Robin Hood one day. "Let us go out and look for some. Little John, you go to the east and I will go to the west, and we will see if we do not find passing a greedy noble, or fat churchman who carries too much[Pg 21] of this world's goods with him, and needs to be relieved for the good of the poor."
Now when Robin Hood and his men robbed a man—and they never molested any but the rich who had made their wealth by grinding down the poor—they brought him into the forest and made a feast for him. Then, after he had feasted, they told him he must pay his reckoning, and they took his goods or gold that he carried and divided these into three piles. One-third they gave back to him; one-third they kept for themselves; and the other third they distributed to the poor. The rich and grasping shuddered at the very mention of Robin Hood's feasts, but the poor breathed blessings on his name whenever they thought of them.
So Little John and his part of the band went to the east; and they were lucky, for they brought in the rich bishop of Hereford with five sumpter mules loaded with goods. But Robin Hood and his half found only a sorrowful knight who sighed as he rode along and seemed too sad to notice anything. Robin Hood laid his hand on his bridle, stopping his horse.
"Hold," he said. "I would speak with you."
"Now who are you who would stop a peaceful traveler on the king's highway?" asked the knight.
"Some call me an honest man and some call me a robber," answered Robin Hood. "At any rate, I and my men have an inn in the forest where we want you to stop and feast. But we let you know that we count upon our guests paying their reckoning."
"I take your meaning," answered the knight, "but I am no guest for you, for I have no money. Indeed, I am in great sorrow by reason of this very thing. Having great need of money to save the life of my son, I mortgaged my estate to the prior of Emmet and, though I could raise the money if he would give me[Pg 22] more time, he will not give me a day, but means to seize the estate and turn me out a beggar."
"How much money did you borrow of him?" asked Robin Hood.
"Only four hundred pounds. The estate is worth many times that but he will show no mercy."
"Have you no friends who could lend you the money?" asked Robin Hood.
"Alas, no," answered the knight. "When I was fortunate I had many friends who crowded around me, but now that I have come to trouble they have all deserted me."
"Well, the men who are in trouble always have friends in Sherwood Forest," answered Robin Hood. "Come with me as a free guest and we will find a way to help you."
So they went on until they came to the great tree where Friar Tuck and half a dozen others were preparing the feast around a huge fire. And there in the light of the flames sat the bishop of Hereford under guard, with his sumpter mules with their loaded packs tied to the trees around.
"Have mercy," he whined. But Robin Hood answered sternly.
"What mercy have you ever shown to the poor? Men, open his packs!"
So they opened the packs, which were full of rich goods and divided them into three parts. Beside the packs of goods there was a box that held fifteen hundred pounds in gold. Robin Hood took up the portion divided out for the poor and gave it to the sorrowful knight.
"Since the churchmen have despoiled you, the churchmen shall help you," he said.
"Oh, I thank you," cried the knight, his sorrowful[Pg 23] face lighting up for the first time that day. "But I will not take it as a gift but as a loan. I will pay it back to the bishop or to you."
The bishop nodded and opened his mouth to say "That is well," but Robin Hood interrupted him shortly.
"Pay it to me," he said. "I will help the poor with it. The bishop would but crowd it into his own coffers, and use it to gain more money."
So the knight who had been so sorrowful departed with all his troubles cleared away. Sorely disappointed was the prior of Emmet for he had made sure by cheating and craft that the poor knight who had fallen into his clutches could not get the money to redeem his lands anywhere, and he counted them already in his grasp. But he had to give them up; and that is a story too, but we have not room to tell it here.
"I wish I could see Robin Hood," said King Richard. "I wish I could see him and his men shoot and wrestle and go through all the feats in which they have such wondrous skill. But if they heard that the king was coming, they would think it was only to arrest them, and they would flee deep into the forest and I should never get a glimpse of them."
King Richard spoke kindly, for he was a king who loved all manly sports and those who excelled in them.
"I would give a hundred pounds to see Robin Hood and his men in the greenwood," he said.
"I'll tell you how you can see him without a doubt," spoke up one of the king's trusty companions with a laugh. "Put on the robes of a fat abbot and ride[Pg 24] through Sherwood Forest with the hundred pounds in your pouch, and you will be sure to see him and be feasted by him."
"I'll do it," cried bluff King Richard, slapping his knee. "It will be a huge joke."
So he and seven of his followers dressed themselves as an abbot and seven black friars and rode out along the highway toward Sherwood Forest. And Robin Hood and his men took them and brought them to the Trystal Tree, and there they searched them and took the pouch of gold. But they gave half the gold back to the king, for it was not their custom to leave any man in need. They were pleased with these travelers because they did not resist nor rail at them.
"Now we shall give you a feast that will be worth fifty pounds," said Robin Hood.
"I have a good appetite for a feast," said the pretended abbot, "but even more do I desire to see the archery and wrestling and play with the quarter-staff and all those things in which I am told you excel."
"You shall see the very best we can do," answered Robin Hood. "But, I pray you, holy father, lay aside your cowl that you may enjoy this sweet evening air."
"No," answered the mock abbot. "It may not be, for I and my brothers have vowed not to let our faces be seen during this journey."
"Very well, then," said Robin Hood. "I interfere with no man's vows." And he never dreamed that it was the king.
They gave them a splendid feast of roasted venison and pheasant and fish and wild fowls, all done to a turn over the roaring fire, and the best of drink. Then they arranged the sports.
The target was a garland of leaves and flowers that was hung six score paces distant upon a stake. It was[Pg 25] a mark that only the best of archers could hit at all.
"Now shoot!" said Robin Hood. "You shall each of you have three shots, and every one who fails to place his arrows within the garland shall forfeit the arrow and receive beside a box on the side of the head as stout as can be given."
"Can any one hit inside that little garland at such a distance?" asked the king in amaze.
"Look and see," answered Robin Hood proudly.
First, David of Doncaster shot, and lodged all three arrows within the garland, while the king looked on, astonished. Then Midge, the miller's son, and he also placed all his arrows inside of the garland. Then Wat the Tinker drew his bow; but he was unlucky, for one of his arrows missed the mark by the breadth of two fingers.
"Come here and take your punishment," called Robin Hood. The king supposed that, since he had missed by so little, he would receive but a light tap, but he got a blow that knocked him spinning across the grass, heels over head.
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed his comrades, and "O ho!" thought King Richard, "I am glad I am not in this." But he was much impressed with the way Robin Hood's men obeyed him.
"They are better to follow his commands than my servants are to follow mine," he thought.
The shooting went on, and most of the men shot their arrows within the garland, but a few missed and received tremendous buffets.
Last Robin Hood shot. His first shaft split off a piece of the stake on which the garland was hung. His second lodged a scant inch from the first. But the last arrow he shot was feathered faultily, and it swerved to one side, and smote an inch outside of the garland.
Then all the company roared with good-natured laughter, for it was seldom indeed that they saw their master miss.
"Go and take your punishment, master," said Midge, the miller's son. "I hope it will be as heavy as Wat's."
"Well," said Robin Hood, "I will forfeit my arrow to our guest and take my buffet from him."
Now the merry Robin was somewhat crafty in this, for, though he did not mind hard knocks at all, he did not like the thought of being sent sprawling before his band. The hands of churchmen were soft, and their strongest blows but feeble, for they did not work nor use their muscles much. But the pretended abbot bared an arm so stout and muscular that it made the yeomen stare. Robin Hood placed himself fairly in front of him and he struck a blow that would have felled an ox. Down went Robin Hood on the ground rolling over and over, and his men fairly shouted with laughter.
"Well," said Robin Hood, sitting up, half dazed, "I did not think that there was an arm in England that could strike such a blow. Who are you, man? I'll warrant you are no churchman as you seem."
Then Richard threw his cowl, and Robin knew his king. If he had been a disloyal man as well as an outlaw, he would have trembled then. But, though he knelt at the king's feet and signalled all his men to kneel, his voice was not ashamed.
"Your majesty," he said, "you have no subjects in all England more loyal to you than I and my merry men. We have done no evil except to certain of the greedy and rich who oppressed your subjects. We crave your pardon if we have done wrong, and we beg for your protection, and swear that we will ever serve you faithfully."
Then the king looked down in amazement that an outlaw should speak so. But he knew men, and he knew what people said of Robin Hood. And he knew, too, that he was the best archer in all England and he wanted him in his own train.
"I will forgive all your law-breaking," he said, "if you will come with me to my court and serve me there. You shall take Little John and Will Scarlet and Allen-a-Dale, who is the sweetest singer I ever heard; and the rest of your men I will make into royal rangers, since I judge that they can protect Sherwood Forest better than any others."
So Robin Hood left the greenwood and went to the king's court and he served King Richard well. But he did not like the confinement of the court and could not abide the gaieties and jealousies of the courtiers. After King Richard died, his brother John took the throne, and he was one of the worst kings that ever ruled England. Then Robin Hood went back to the forest and his merry men gathered around him once more, and again they became outlaws. And there in the forest he lived till he died.
Now the manner of Robin Hood's death was in this wise. He had grown to be an old man, and he became ill of a fever.
"I will go to my cousin, the prioress of Kirklees, for she hath much knowledge of healing," he said. "I will ask her to bleed me that I may become well."
In those days the women had more knowledge of healing than any others, for it was the duty of every mother and daughter to learn as much as she could[Pg 28] about it that she might know what to do if her husband or her son were wounded. This cousin of Robin Hood's was greatly indebted to him, for he had got her her good place as prioress. But she loved one of his enemies, and she dealt treacherously with him.
She opened a vein in his arm, but she did not close it up again. Then she left him alone in a high room at the very top of the priory to bleed to death. All day long he bled till he was so weak that he could hardly move. But at evening he managed to lift his bugle to his lips and blow. The blast was but feeble, but Little John heard it, for, though the prioress refused to let him in with Robin Hood, he had lingered as close to his dear master as he could get, all day long.
The prioress locked the great entry door so that he might not come in, and he seized a huge stone mortar that three men could not lift ordinarily and hurled it against the door, crashing it in. Then he dashed up the winding stairs and none could stay him until he reached the room under the eaves where his master lay. But he saw at a glance that Robin Hood was dying.
"Master," he cried, "I will burn the priory down over the heads of these vile nuns whose mistress has done you such dreadful treachery."
"No, no," said Robin Hood, with a smile that was feeble but was wondrous sweet. "I have never hurt a woman in my life nor allowed my followers to do it. I could not allow such a thing now."
And with almost his last breath he made Little John promise to do no injury to the treacherous nun who had killed him.
There are many more stories about Robin Hood. There is not space enough here to put down half of them. I hope you will ask for them at the library and read them all, and some of the quaint old ballads about him too. And I hope, most of all, that every boy who reads them will try to be as kindly and as helpful and as generous and as brave and chivalrous to all woman-kind as Robin Hood was.
—Author Unknown.
5c—Supplementary Readers And Classics for All Grades—5c
A series of little books containing material needed for supplementary Reading and Study. Classified and Graded. Large type for lower grades.
This list is constantly being added to. If a substantial number of books are to be ordered, or if
other titles than those shown here are desired, send for latest list.
*6 Fairy Stories of the Moon
*27 Eleven Fables from Æsop
*23 More Fables from Æsop
*29 Indian Myths—Bush
*140 Nursery Tales—Taylor
*288 Primer from Fableland—Maguire
*1 Little Plant People—Part I
*2 Little Plant People—Part II
*30 Story of a Sunbeam—Miller
*31 Kitty Mittens and Her Friends
*32 Patriotic Stories (Story of the Flag, Story of Washington, etc.)
*104 Mother Goose Reader
*228 First Term Primer—Maguire
*230 Rhyme and Jingle Reader for Beginners
*33 Stories from Andersen—Taylor
*34 Stories from Grimm—Taylor
*36 Little Red Riding Hood—Reiter
*37 Jack and the Beanstalk—Reiter
*38 Adventures of a Brownie
*3 Little Workers (Animal Stories)
*39 Little Wood Friends—Mayne
*40 Wings and Stings—Halifax
*41 Story of Wool—Mayne
*42 Bird Stories from the Poets
*43 Story of the Mayflower—McCabe
*45 Boyhood of Washington—Reiter
*204 Boyhood of Lincoln—Reiter
*72 Bow-Wow and Mew-Mew—Craik
*142 Child's Garden of Verses—Stevenson
*206 Picture Study Stories for Little Children
*220 Story of the Christ Child
*262 Four Little Cotton-Tails—Smith
*268 Four Little Cotton Tails in Winter—Smith
*269 Four Little Cotton Tails at Play—Smith
*270 Four Little Cotton-Tails in Vacation—Smith
*290 Fuzz in Japan—A Child-Life Reader
*46 Puss in Boots and Cinderella
*47 Greek Myths—Klingensmith
*48 Nature Myths—Metcalf
*50 Reynard the Fox—Best
*102 Thumbelina and Dream Stories
*146 Sleeping Beauty and Other Stories
174 Sun Myths—Reiter
175 Norse Legends, I—Reiter
176 Norse Legends, II—Reiter
*177 Legends of the Rhineland—McCabe
*282 Siegfried, The Lorelei, and Other Rhine Legends—McCabe
*49 Buds, Stems and Fruits—Mayne
*51 Story of Flax—Mayne
*52 Story of Glass—Hanson
*53 Adventures of a Little Water Drop—Mayne
*133 Aunt Martha's Corner Cupboard—Part I. Story of Tea and the Teacup
*135 Little People of the Hills (Dry Air and Dry Soil Plants)—Chase
*137 Aunt Martha's Corner Cupboard—Part II. Story of Sugar, Coffee and Salt
*138 Aunt Martha's Corner Cupboard—Part III. Story of Rice, Currants and Honey
*203 Little Plant People of the Waterways—Chase
*4 Story of Washington—Reiter
*7 Story of Longfellow—McCabe
*21 Story of the Pilgrims—Powers
*44 Famous Early Americans (Smith, Standish, Penn)—Bush
*54 Story of Columbus—McCabe
55 Story of Whittier—McCabe
57 Story of Louisa M. Alcott—Bush
*59 Story of the Boston Tea Party—McCabe
*60 Children of the Northland—Bush
*62 Children of the South Lands—I (Florida, Cuba, Puerto Rico)
*63 Children of the South Lands—II (Africa, Hawaii, The Philippines)—McFee
*64 Child Life in the Colonies—I (New Amsterdam)—Baker
*65 Child Life in the Colonies—II (Pennsylvania)—Baker
*66 Child Life in the Colonies—III (Virginia)
*68 Stories of the Revolution—I (Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys)—McCabe
*69 Stories of the Revolution—II (Around Philadelphia)—McCabe
*70 Stories of the Revolution—III (Marion, the Swamp Fox)—McCabe
*132 Story of Franklin—Faris
*164 The Little Brown Baby and Other Babies
*165 Gemila, the Child of the Desert, and some of Her Sisters
*166 Louise on the Rhine and in Her New Home.
(Nos. 161, 163, 166 are the stories from "Seven Little Sisters" by Jane Andrews)
*167 Famous Artists—I—(Landseer and Bonheur)
*35 Goody Two Shoes
58 Selections from Alice and Phoebe Cary
*67 The Story of Robinson Crusoe
*71 Selections from Hiawatha (Five Grades)
*227 Our Animal Friends and How to Treat Them
*233 Poems Worth Knowing—Book I—Primary
*75 Story of Coal—McKane
*76 Story of Wheat—Halifax
*77 Story of Cotton—Brown
*134 Conquests of Little Plant People
*136 Peeps into Bird Nooks—I—McFee
*181 Stories of the Stars—McFee
*205 Eyes and No Eyes and The Three Giants
*5 Story of Lincoln—Reiter
*56 Indian Children Tales—Bush
*78 Stories of the Backwoods
*79 A Little New England Viking—Baker
*81 Story of De Soto—Halfield
*82 Story of Daniel Boone—Reiter
*83 Story of Printing—McCabe
*84 Story of David Crockett—Reiter
85 Story of Patrick Henry
*86 American Inventors—I (Whitney and Fulton)—Faris
*87 American Inventors—II (Morse and Edison)—Faris
*88 American Naval Heroes (Jones, Perry, Farragut)—Bush
89 Fremont and Kit Carson—Judd
*91 Story of Eugene Field—McCabe
*178 Story of Lexington and Bunker Hill—Baker
*182 Story of Joan of Arc—McFee
*207 Famous Artists—II—Reynolds and Murillo
*213 Famous Artists—III—Millet
*248 Makers of European History
*90 Fifteen Selections from Longfellow—(Village Blacksmith, Children's Hour, and others)
*95 Japanese Myths and Legends
103 Stories from the Old Testament
*111 Water Babies (Abridged)
*159 Little Lame Prince (Cond.)—Mulock
*171 Tolmi of the Treetops—Grimes
*172 Labu the Little Lake Dweller—Grimes
*173 Tara of the Tents—Grimes
*195 Night before Christmas and Other Christmas Poems and Stories (Any Grade)
*201 Alice's First Adventures in Wonderland
*202 Alice's Further Adventures in Wonderland—Carroll
*258 Rolo the Cave Boy—Grimes
*257 Kwasa the Cliff Dweller—Grimes
*92 Animal Life in the Sea—McFee
*93 Story of Silk—Brown
*94 Story of Sugar—Reiter
*96 What We Drink (Tea, Coffee and Cocoa)
*139 Peeps into Bird Nooks—II
210 Snowdrops and Crocuses
263 The Sky Family—Denton
*280 Making of the World—Herndon
*281 Builders of the World—Herndon
*283 Stories of Time—Bush
*16 Explorations of the Northwest
80 Story of the Cabots—McBride
*97 Story of the Norsemen—Hanson
98 Story of Nathan Hale—McCabe
99 Story of Jefferson—McCabe
100 Story of Bryant—McFee
101 Story of Robert E. Lee—McKane
105 Story of Canada—McCabe
*106 Story of Mexico—McCabe
*107 Story of Robert Louis Stevenson
110 Story of Hawthorne—McFee
112 Biographical Stories—Hawthorne
141 Story of Grant—McKane
*144 Story of Steam—McCabe
145 Story of McKinley—McBride
157 Story of Dickens—Smith
*179 Story of the Flag—Baker
*185 Story of the First Crusade
190 Story of Father Hennepin
191 Story of LaSalle—McBride
*217 Story of Florence Nightingale
*28 Story of Peter Cooper—McFee
219 Little Stories Of Discovery—Halsey
232 Story of Shakespeare—Grames
*265 Four Little Discoverers in Panama—Bush
*287 Life in Colonial Days—Tillinghast
*8 King of the Golden River—Ruskin
*9 The Golden Touch—Hawthorne
*61 Story of Sindbad the Sailor
*108 History in Verse (Sheridan's Ride, Independence Bell, the Blue and the Gray, etc.)
*113 Little Daffydowndilly and Other Stories—Hawthorne
*180 Story of Aladdin and of Ali Baba
*183 A Dog of Flanders—De La Ramee
*184 The Nurnberg Stove—La Ramee
*186 Heroes from King Arthur—Graves
194 Whittier's Poems—Selected.
*199 Jackanapes—Ewing
*200 The Child of Urbino—La Ramee
*208 Heroes of Asgard—Selections—Keary
*212 Stories from Robin Hood—Bush
*234 Poems Worth Knowing—Book II—Intermediate—Faxon
255 Chinese Fables and Stories
277 At the Back of the North Wind, Selection from—Macdonald.
*109 Gifts of the Forests (Rubber, Cinchona, Resins, etc.)—McFee
249 Flowers and Birds of Illinois—Patterson
*271 Animal Husbandry—Horses and Cattle
*272 Animal Husbandry—Sheep and Swine
*114 Great European Cities—I (London and Paris)—Bush
*115 Great European Cities—II (Rome and Berlin)—Bush
*168 Great European Cities—III (St. Petersburg and Constantinople)—Bush
*246 What I Saw in Japan—Griffis
*247 The Chinese and Their Country
*285 Story of Panama and the Canal—Nida
*73 Four Great Musicians—Bush
*74 Four More Great Musicians
*116 Old English Heroes (Alfred, Richard the Lion-Hearted, The Black Prince)—Bush
*117 Later English Heroes (Cromwell, Wellington, Gladstone)—Bush
*160 Heroes of the Revolution
*163 Stories of Courage—Bush
187 Lives of Webster and Clay
*188 Story of Napoleon—Bush
*189 Stories of Heroism—Bush
197 Story of Lafayette—Bush
198 Story of Roger Williams—Leighton
*209 Lewis and Clark Expedition
*224 Story of William Tell—Hallock
253 Story of the Aeroplane—Galbreath
*266 Story of Belgium—Griffis
267 Story of Wheels—Bush
*286 Story of Slavery—Booker T. Washington
508 Story of Florida—Bauskett
509 Story of Georgia—Derry
511 Story of Illinois—Smith
512 Story of Indiana—Clem
513 Story of Iowa—McFee
515 Story of Kentucky—Eubank
520 Story of Michigan—Skinner
521 Story of Minnesota—Skinner
523 Story of Missouri—Pierce
*525 Story of Nebraska—Mears.
*528 Story of New Jersey—Hutchinson
533 Story of Ohio—Galbreath
*536 Story of Pennsylvania—March
540 Story of Tennessee—Overall
542 Story of Utah—Young
546 Story of West Virginia—Shawkey
547 Story of Wisconsin—Skinner
*10 The Snow Image—Hawthorne
*11 Rip Van Winkle—Irving
*12 Legend of Sleepy Hollow—Irving
*22 Rab and His Friends—Brown
*24 Three Golden Apples—Hawthorne †
*25 The Miraculous Pitcher—Hawthorne †
*26 The Minotaur—Hawthorne
*118 A Tale of the White Hills and Other Stories—Hawthorne
*119 Bryant's Thanatopsis, and other Poems
*120 Ten Selections from Longfellow—(Paul Revere's Ride, The Skeleton in Armour, and other poems)
121 Selections from Holmes (The Wonderful One Hoss Shay, Old Ironsides, and others)
*122 The Pied Piper of Hamelin
161 The Great Carbuncle, Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe, Snowflakes—Hawthorne
162 The Pygmies—Hawthorne
*211 The Golden Fleece—Hawthorne
*222 Kingsley's Greek Heroes—Part I. The Story of Perseus
*223 Kingsley's Greek Heroes—Part II. The Story of Theseus
*225 Tennyson's Poems—Selected (For various grades)
229 Responsive Bible Readings—Zeller
264 The Story of Don Quixote—Bush
250 Thrift Stories—Benj. Franklin and Others
278 A Child's Dream of a Star, and other Stories
*284 Story of Little Nell—Dickens
*13 Courtship of Miles Standish
*14 Evangeline—Longfellow †
*15 Snowbound—Whittier †
*20 The Great Stone Face, Rill from the Town Pump—Hawthorne
123 Selections from Wordsworth (Ode on Immortality, We are Seven, To the Cuckoo, and other poems)
124 Selections from Shelley and Keats
125 Selections from The Merchant of Venice
*147 Story of King Arthur, as told by Tennyson—Hallock
*149 Man Without a Country, The—Hale †
*192 Story of Jean Valjean—Grames
*193 Selections from the Sketch Book—Irving
196 The Gray Champion—Hawthorne
213 Poems of Thomas Moore—(Selected)
214 More Selections from the Sketch Book—Irving
*216 Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare—Selected
*231 The Oregon Trail (Condensed from Parkman)—Grames
*235 Poems Worth Knowing—Book III—Grammar—Faxon
*238 Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses—Part I
*239 Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses—Part II
*241 Story of the Iliad—Church (Cond.)
*242 Story of the Æneid—Church (Cond.)
*251 Story of Language and Literature—Heilig
*252 The Battle of Waterloo—Hugo
254 Story of "The Talisman" (Scott)—Weekes
*259 The Last of the Mohicans (abridged)
261 Selected Tales of a Wayside Inn—Longfellow †
*260 Oliver Twist (abridged)—Dickens
226 Mars and Its Mysteries—Wilson
279 True Story of the Man in the Moon—Wilson
*17 Enoch Arden—Tennyson †
*18 Vision of Sir Launfal—Lowell †
*19 Cotter's Saturday Night—Burns †
*23 The Deserted Village—Goldsmith
*126 Rime of the Ancient Mariner †
*127 Gray's Elegy and Other Poems
*128 Speeches of Lincoln
129 Julius Cæsar—Selections
130 Henry the VIII—Selections
131 Macbeth—Selections
*142 Scott's Lady of the Lake—Canto I †
154 Scott's Lady of the Lake—Canto II †
143 Building of the Ship and other Poems—Longfellow
148 Horatius, Ivry, The Armada—Macaulay
*150 Bunker Hill Address and Selections from Adams and Jefferson Oration—Webster †
*151 Gold Bug, The—Poe
153 Prisoner of Chillon and other poems—Byron †
155 Rhoecus and Other Poems—Lowell †
156 Edgar Allan Poe—Biography and selected poems—Link
*158 Washington's Farewell Address and Other Papers †
169 Abram Joseph Ryan—Biography and selected poems—Smith
170 Paul H. Hayne—Biography and selected poems—Link
215 Life of Samuel Johnson—Macaulay †
*221 Sir Roger de Coverley Papers—Addison †
*236 Poems Worth Knowing—Book IV—Advanced—Faxon
237 Lay of the Last Minstrel—Scott. Introduction and Canto I †
† These have biographical sketch of author, with introduction or explanatory notes.
Price 5 Cents Each. Postage, 1 cent per copy extra. Order by Number
Twelve or more copies sent prepaid at 60 cents per dozen or $5.00 per hundred.
*Limp Cloth Binding. The titles indicated by (*) are supplied also in limp cloth binding at 10 cents per copy.
Annotated Classics and Supplementary Readers
| 1 | Evangeline. Biography, introduction, oral and written exercises and notes. | 10c |
| 3 | Courtship of Miles Standish. Longfellow. With introduction and notes. | 10c |
| 5 | Vision of Sir Launfal. Lowell. Biography, introduction, notes, outlines. | 10c |
| 7 | Enoch Arden. Tennyson. Biography, introduction, notes, outlines, questions. | 10c |
| 9 | Great Stone Face. Hawthorne. Biography, introduction, notes, outlines. | 10c |
| 11 | Browning's Poems. Selected poems with notes and outlines for study. | 10c |
| 13 | Wordsworth's Poems. Selected poems with introduction, notes and outlines. | 10c |
| 15 | Sohrab and Rustum. Arnold. With introduction, notes and outlines. | 10c |
| 17 | The Children's Poet. Study of Longfellow's poetry for children, with poems. | 10c |
| 19 | A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens. Complete with notes. | 10c |
| 21 | Cricket on the Hearth. Chas. Dickens. Complete with notes. | 10c |
| 23 | Familiar Legends. McFee. Old tales retold for young people. | 10c |
| 25 | Some Water Birds. McFee. Description, and stories of, Fourth to Sixth grades. | 10c |
| 27 | Hiawatha. Introduction and notes. | 15c |
| 29 | Milton's Minor Poems. Biography, introduction, notes, questions, critical comments and pronouncing vocabulary. | 10c |
| 31 | Idylls of the King. (Coming of Arthur, Gareth and Lynette, Lancelot and Elaine, Passing of Arthur.) Biography, introduction, notes, questions, critical comments, and pronouncing vocabulary. | 15c |
| 33 | Silas Marner. Eliot. Biography, notes, questions, critical comments, bibliography, 238 pages. Paper. | 20c |
| 34 | Same in cloth binding. | 30c |
| 35 | Lady of the Lake. Scott. Biography, introduction and extended notes, pronouncing vocabulary. | 15c |
| 37 | Literature of the Bible—Heilig. | 15c |
| 59 | The Sketch Book (Selected)—Irving. Biography, introduction and notes. | 15c |
Added table of contents.
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Moved advertising from inside front cover to end of book.
Page 4, added missing close quote after "miserable all the time."
Page 7, changed "walunt" to "walnut."
Page 17, changed "the managed" to "he managed."
Page 18, moved punctuation inside quotes for "How is this?"
Page 24, changed "Sherwod Forest" to "Sherwood Forest" at top of page.
Page 27, added missing quote after "better than any others."
Page 29, added missing period after "obeyed him."
Back cover, added missing period after Dickens in Cricket on the Hearth listing; changed "Familar Legends" to "Familiar Legends."