Below were two heavy oak doors that were shut at curfew every sunset.

Beside
them was the guardhouse. In the half-light of dawn one guard rested, leaning on
his quarterstaff. Another lay slumped across a wooden bench, fast asleep.
On the eastern side of the yard stood the castle.
Robin tucked his arms into the sleeves of his cloak and backed into the gloom The earliest
of the church porch. His brown homespun hood threw a sharp morning shadow references to Robin
across his weathered face. On the southern side of the square several houses and Hood date from
taverns nestled together. Some had stone walls and tiled roofs, but most were 1228 onwards, and

E
made of wattle and daub, wood and thatch. Behind these narrow streets a maze occur in the rolls

1
of alleyways snaked deep into the city. of several English
A dog barked. Light from rush tapers flickered at open windows. Wood smoke justices. The names
circled lazily about the rooftops. The smells of bread baking and the cooking Robinhood, Robehod
of onion broth wafted across the square. Heavy-eyed shopkeepers and yawning or Hobbehod can be

PL
tradesmen were already putting up their booths, but not in the centre of the found in these rolls,
cobbled yard today. and seem to apply
There was other business to be done today. to any fugitive or

Robin Hood and his

The sky brightened into streaks of indigo and copper. A man in a serfs smock outlaw.
pushed a hay cart. In the open stables beside the city gate a group of beggars
clustered around a burning brazier. A gang of dirty-faced urchins shoved and
Merry Men [An English legend] jostled each other, chasing a soft leather ball. A woman wearing a hide cap with
ear pieces sold hot pies from a cookhouse beside the square. A minstrel unrolled
himself from a bundle of greasy woollen blankets where he had spent the night

M
on the church steps.
The city gates were thrown open and a throng of farmers, foresters and out-of- From written sources
towners jostled each other for space. Some of the womenfolk had baskets of food over the centuries, it
over their arms, intent upon the occasion. Stilt-walkers and jugglers were there, seems likely that the
Robin Hood kennel-keepers and kitchen maids. A man with a scar down his cheek shouted character of Robin
his expertise as a barber; another, a skill in pulling teeth. Hood was based
The man in the hood leaned against the stone
SA The soldiers on the city wall were marched out and inspected and returned to upon a real person,
portico, surveying the scene before him.
their posts. A group of men-at-arms rode up, their mail shirts clinking beneath possibly born in
It was a cobbled yard, an open market
England linen surcoats displaying the blues and yellows of Sir Guy of Gisborne. Leaving Loxley around 1160
square, although there was no market taking
their horses with the grooms, they sauntered about the marketplace buying small and outlawed in
place today. On the northern side ran the
loaves and bowls of hot pottage from a family cooking a stew of onion, meat, 1225 until his death
city wall, as high as five men standing on
barley and spices on an open fi re. in Kirklees in 1247.
each others shoulders. The wall was pitted
A sense of expectation hung in the air.
and scarred, but its grey stone shone a deep
A space had been cleared at the centre of the square. A high wooden platform
maroon in the early glow of dawn. A guard sat
had been erected there, and on top of it stood a gallows frame. Two upright posts
on the wall-walk, sharpening a sword.
of solid oak were fastened to a horizontal beam. A hangmans noose dangled free.
At its western end stood the city gate, a tall
Some chickens scratched in the dirt around the supports.
gatehouse with oriel windows and two arrow loops.
Robin smiled, and drew his palmers gown around him for warmth.
It was going to be an eventful day.

2 Stalking the Story 2: The traditional stories Robin Hood and his Merry Men 3