The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
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The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01  ·  rating details  ·  21,167 ratings  ·  317 reviews
Robin Hood is the archetypal English folk hero; a courteous, pious and swashbuckling outlaw of the mediæval era who, in modern versions of the legend, is famous for robbing the rich to feed the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny. He operates with his “seven score” (140 strong) group of fellow outlawed yeomen – named the Merry Men. He and his band are usually a...more
ebook, EText-No. 10148
Published November 1st 2003 by gutenberg.org (first published 1883)
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Karen
Seldomly I've been so touched by a book as I was by Robin Hood. From the very beginning it was a lighthearted and happy tale of an outlaw and his adventures, told in a careless, joyful and entertaining language - depicting Robin Hood not as a criminal, but a lovely young man with a sharp wit, sense of humour and excellent skills with the bow. He is the king of his band of men yet they are equal, he shows mercy for the needing and sympathy for the weak. You wish him all good in the world and it i...more
Brian
7/1/2000 - 7/10

After getting a taste of Robin Hood in Ivanhoe, I decided to find out more about him. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood takes its basis from the many old ballads about Robin Hood. As a result, it is a combination of mini-stories. Howard Pyle does a commendable job in joining all these stories into a cohesive novel. It was fun following the adventures of Robin, Little John, Friar Tuck, and the rest of the merry band!

For more info on Robin Hood check out:
Robin Hood - lots of genera...more
Patrick Glazier
This is a book about a young, well eventually older, man named Robin Hood. One day walking through Sherwood forest he gets into a dispute with some of the king’s rangers. After proving himself the better archer, the men trick Robin and try to arrest him. To escape capture he kills one of the men and finds a secluded part of Sherwood forest.
It is on this area that most of the book takes place. In here Robin amasses a group of bandits. These bandits see that the few on the top make life miserabl...more
Kara Jorges
Being a fan of adventure fiction, I could not ignore this truly vintage tale. This is the story of many of the adventures of Robin Hood and his merry men. I must say, as usual, the movies can’t hold a candle to the book. Hollywood has also chosen to ignore Robin Hood’s attitude toward the church and clergy, which were important issues in his day. Written in the 18th century, it takes a little getting used to the language, but it quickly becomes part of the ambience as Robin Hood, Little John, Fr...more
Tony

Howard Pyle- Robin Hood 3.25 Stars

I won’t bother summarising this classic as I think you all know the basics about Robin Hood. I was actually surprised at how different this was from what I expected, especially the fact that Maid Marian doesn’t make an appearance until three-quarters of the way through the book, and then it is just for one chapter as well as one mention later on. It seems that movie makers have taken a lot of liberties with this book and have changed so much about it. It covers...more
Steve Hemmeke
A rollicking good time. This long version by traditional storyteller Howard Pyle hums with the merriment of Robin's band of brothers. Their adventures involve bringing justice to folks in need, at the expense of the apathetic or oppressive rich and powerful passing near Sherwood forest.

It struck me that Robin Hood presents some lessons from the 1200s on masculinity, which we might not learn in our culture. The typical reference to Robin's merry men today tends to be an off color homosexual refer...more
Christine Blachford
I've wanted to read something about Robin Hood for a while, but it's hard to know which way to go with a topic so legendary. There's no definitive source on the green-clad forest-dweller, so you have to hedge your bets and pick the one that looks like it will be most entertaining.

Unfortunately, for the first half of this book, I wasn't sure that Howard Pyle's version of the legend was going to deliver. Every story seemed to be about one or other member of the band going for a walk, finding someo...more
Claudia
First book read in 2012! This is Lucy's copy, and I really needed to be able to give it back. I know Howard Pyle was an illustrator who also wrote or rewrote classics, so I was surprised that this edition contains someone else's illustrations.

I was entirely put off by his fake 'old English' style, forsooth she sayeth. Blech! IF Robin was a real person, I can guarantee the Brits didn't talk like that. So that was something I fought against the whole time.

I read that Pyle collected and organized t...more
Bryan
Dec 13, 2011 Bryan rated it 1 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Literary Scholars
Shelves: fiction
While Pyle managed to create a cheerful trickster of a protagonist, he ultimately failed to capture the spirit of Robin Hood in my opinion.

Granted, I only read the first few chapters, but it was enough to convince me not to continue reading.

What bothered me was that in this version all of Robin's heroic and leadership traits relied only on natural-born talents, and he was as ready to do harm to someone he didn't like as were the villains.

For example, in the story there is a tale of how Robin r...more
Skedatt
My 6 year old decided that he wanted stories about Robin Hood and Howard Pyle's was the only version that we had in the house. I opened it up. The archaic language gave me pause, but I pressed forward. To my surprise, both he and my 4 yr old could tell me what the main action in the story was. Did they know all the words? No. But they gleaned out the action. Kids are smarter than we give them credit for.

So this was one of our bed-time readings for a month, and then they got bored with it a hund...more
Dave Skaff
Pretty much the first thing every new Kindle owner does is download a shitload of free classics. And hey why not? They're much lauded - and free! And among that set for me was this book.

I loved the Robin Hood tales as a child, read some other more kid-friendly versions of it time and time again as a boy and so I thought I'd tackle the original* here.

And? It was awesome. If you liked it then you'll like it now. Friar Tuck, Little John, Will Scarlet - the whole band is there, frolicking and robbi...more
Nikki
Read this for my Robin Hood module, as with Ivanhoe. This is the second book which I just couldn't read as anything but an English Literature student; my lit student hat remained firmly jammed upon my head. It pains me to read other people's reviews and thoughts on this, given that they're so wildly inaccurate about it. E.g. someone thinking it was "the" book of Robin Hood (and not knowing about the ballad tradition, or the forerunners to this such as Ivanhoe). Or someone thinking it's written i...more
Diz
Ok.so maybe I only read this book because I was desperate to find a story about Robin Hood that wasn't either the Disney movie nor that over movie with a really hot guy, just the story of how Robin became Robin. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I stumble with this book in a second hand bookstore and was almost crying with happiness when I discovered it had illustrations. Nope, nothing at all.
Anyway, I really liked it, not loved it but it did made me laugh and take some sympathy...more
Margaret Oneal
Well I had just finished the Grapes Of Wrath and I was in dire need of some fluff... so, since the movie was out, Robin Hood seemed to be the ticket. At first I wasn't too sure about it... it seemed so annoying, but the more I read, the more I loved it. I think I fell in love with the language: Shakespeare Lite. It was elegantly written... and yet I didn't get a headache trying to decipher the meaning of every sentence. Halfway through the book, I realized I had read a comic book! A really elega...more
Emespre
I was searching through the containers of books we read as children for Deltora Quest (the series was actually in my wardrobe, FYI) when I found a few of my brother's books that I never actually read. One of those books was this one. I was always busy procrastinating or reading other books or actually doing schoolwork, until last weekend (I was doing the 40 Hour Famine so could only speak French and couldn't use the Internet, so I wasn't very communicative) when I decided to read this.

It's good....more
Kollen
Robin Hood
By: Kollen Erickson

The book I just finished was Robin Hood. That’s the book I’m doing this book report on. The author of this book is Roger Green the author retold this book.

The theme of this book Robin Hood is about a boy named Robin Hood would go around and steal the rich peoples money to give to the poor. An example of how he achieved this was that he entered tournaments with the money that he stole from the rich people.

The second way that he achieved this was that that he made...more
Holly
At my high school, I have to read 500 pages worth of classic books. I'm not the kind of girl to fawn over Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre. I wanted an interesting classic, so I picked up Robin Hood (because who doesn't like him?) I was especially drawn to him thanks to a recent viewing of Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Thank you, Mel Brooks.

Anyway. Back to the book. I was concerned about the whole "steals from the rich and give to the needy" at first because the whole premise seemed to be this: Robin...more
João Paulo
Nesta crítica tenho de começar por dizer que li a edição do projecto Gutenberg que tens 222 páginas e não 400.

Eu li a versão original e só posso aconselhá-la a pessoas que tenham à vontade com o inglês, já que a linguagem às vezes é difícil de compreender, por exemplo:

"And well thou knowest that no target is nigh to make good thy wager"

Agora em relação à história propriamente dita. Tal como o título indica neste livro temos o relato de diversas aventuras do nosso heróis Robin Hood, desde do iní...more
Josiah
"You who so plod amid serious things that you feel it shame to give yourself up even for a few short moments to mirth and joyousness in the land of Fancy; you who think that life hath not to do with innocent laughter that can harm no one; these pages are not for you."

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, P. 3

"It doth make a man better...to hear of those noble men that lived so long ago. When one doth list to such tales, his soul doth say, 'Put by thy poor little likings and seek to do likewise...more
Wontae You
The book 'The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood' is written by Howard Pyle.
Robin Hood is one of the most popular stories. I believe that almost children have read and heard about Robin Hood's story. However, people might not remember the story. That's why i chosen this book. Actually, I knew the Robin Hood but i do not remember much about this story.

Robin Hood is an archetypal figure. Robin hood is known for stealing form the rich and gibving to the poor. Robin's aim is better, to his lasting regre...more
Maurean
Mar 25, 2009 Maurean rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Maurean by: Nanna Vogan
Classic Educator Edition, vol. 6; 272 pgs.
The particular issue that I read has been a part of my library, apparently since my 6th Christmas, as it is inscribed on the back from my grandmother, with the date: 12/25/72. Mine is a Classic Press Educators Edition, and while the cover shown isn’t exactly correct, it is as close as I could find. I have very clear memories of perusing these books throughout my childhood (this is one of a set of classics that includes such beloved tales as Kipling’s “Th...more
Kirsten
This was I genuinely life altering book for me. I read it for a 12th grade book report and I absolutely loved it. This one book sparked a revolution in my reading habits. No longer was I a participant of the young adult genre, devouring books like Harry Potter or The Series of Unfortunate Events(and that's nit to say I don't like them anymore or that I think they're stupid, I still love them), I now belonged to a more scholarly class of literature. A whole new world was opened up for me.

In the...more
Mrs. C.
At the classical school where I teach, I combine this with the writing of a Refutation (one of the elements of the classical progymnasmata), disproving the twentieth-century interpretation of Robin Hood as a person who "robbed from the rich and gave to the poor." Students examine all of the stories and try to find the common denominator amongst the motley crew of commoners, churchmen, the Norman rulers, etc., and discover it to be their ill-gotten gains. What Robin Hood is doing is not stealing...more
Glenda Yaksich
Robin Hood starts on a journey to attend a shooting match in Nottingham. On the way, he makes a bet with some of the King’s foresters and kills a deer to prove his skill. One of the men shoots an arrow at Robin, barely missing him. Robin retaliates by killing the forester. From that moment on, Robin Hood is a wanted man. He hides in Sherwood Forest along with other men who join his band. This collection of light-hearted tales relates their adventures while they relieve the rich of their gold and...more
Monkeybob
This book is about when Robin was a young boy he killed a man and became an outlaw. Now he livesoff the land with his fellow outlaws. they have shooting contest and they hunt the king's deer. the sherrif is always trying to capture the outlaws,they alwaysescape from him.
Iben
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood is, as the name suggests, a book about Robin Hood, his men and their adventures.

Though initially keen on reading the book I was soon disappointed by the ridiculous events that Howard Pyle insists on calling adventures.
Also Rodin Hood himself was a big letdown, he seems shallow and more concerned with having fun than helping anyone. He is very egocentric and though he can laugh and make fun of his men as much as he likes when they so much as smile at something...more
Jessica Baumgartner
I've always wanted to read the tales of Robin Hood after growing up with so many movies about him. Come to find that the Hollywood version of Robin Hood is not really Robin hood but Ivanhoe, these tales are much more about cunning and fun tricks pulled off by a band of young rebels who occasionally help others like themselves. Maid Marion is only mentioned in the past tense, and spoiler alert, they do NOT live happily ever after. I actually sympathize with the Sheriff of Nottingham, he starts ou...more
Kevin de Ataíde
The same old stories wrapped up in interesting language. Robin Hood and his men are a bunch of honourable thieves, who will rob whom they choose, usually churchmen. The anti-clericalism of this book places it firmly in the post-protestant period of England. No doubt, the outlaw who chides the greedy bishop and the overly-comfortable friar may be a mascot for the anti-Catholicism of the last few centuries.

I do like the language, I don't appreciate the constant quarreling (I suppose being 'merry'...more
David Williams
Reading this took me right back to my childhood. I remembered just about every encounter including the first meetings of Robin with Little John, and Robin with Friar Tuck (tremendous fun), the hoodwinking of the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Robin's fight to the death with Guy of Gisborne. There is not a great deal of depth in the stories, and the sun always seems to shine in the greenwood, but for sheer high-spirited adventure these are hard to beat. Howard Pyle's diction is faux-medieval but that...more
Jeanette
My son has recently developed an interest in all things Robin Hood. I was searching for some juvenile level books that I could read to him when I discovered that there are a number of versions of the Robin Hood legend floating around. I decided, in addition to reading the juvenile versions to my son, it would be fun to read some of the longer novelizations and compare them. I picked up Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood first but it was not until I arrived home with my book that I...more
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good but sad at the ending 8 37 Dec 13, 2012 08:16am  
Old Books, New Re...: Read along: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, September 2012 17 24 Aug 30, 2012 09:50am  
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Howard Pyle was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people.

During 1894 he began teaching illustration at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University), and after 1900 he founded his own school of art and illustration named the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art. The term Brandywine School was later applied to the illustration artists an...more
More about Howard Pyle...
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Signet Classics) Otto of the Silver Hand Men of Iron The Wonder Clock or, Four and Twenty Marvelous Tales The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions

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