FACT FILE RobIn Hood the legend The first stories ince the 1400s, there have been songs and stories ~In the 1400s and 1500s, most people couldn’t Sabout Robin Hood and his men. But who was he? Was read and, of course, there was no TV. he really the people’s hero? Was he even a real person? During the long winter evenings, people told stories and sang When? songs. The earliest stories People believe that Robin Hood lived in the late about Robin Hood 1100s and early 1200s, when Richard I and then appeared around 1400. his brother John were King of England. In the first stories, Robin Hood wasn’t a hero. York• Where? He only thought Sherwood Forest In most of the stories, Robin Hood lives in •Nottingham about himself Sherwood Forest, near the town of Nottingham and didn’t care LONDON• in the centre of England. The road from London about the poor. to York ran through the forest. This road could The stories be very dangerous. Sometimes, outlaws took started to change in money from travellers. the 1500s. Then he What is the legend? became the people’s The legend says that Sir Robin of Locksley fought hero. He took money for King Richard in the Middle East. When he came from the rich and gave back to England, he lost his lands to the Sheriff of it to the poor. Nottingham. He chose to live as an outlaw in the Robin Hood today forest with a group of men – Will Scarlett, Little John The outlaw of Sherwood Forest is as and others. He was quick, funny and a brilliant archer. popular today as he was six hundred years ago. Every year, in Nottingham, there is a Who was the real Robin Hood? big Robin Hood fair. There are also many No one knows for sure. We know that there was an films and TV shows about him. outlaw called Robert Hod in 1225. There were a lot Do you have any legends about heroes of people with the surname Hood, Hod and Hode The Robin Hood Fair, Nottingham like Robin Hood in your country? in England at that time, and Robert and Robin were popular first names. This makes the search for the What do these words mean? You can use a dictionary. real Robin Hood very difficult! An early picture of Robin Hood legend hero forest outlaw
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