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" Who is here? I see some Gentlefolk. Sir Robert[Stinkyfool], Sir [Elfwine], Lady [Illtry]. And here, look, is the Wildman of Shirewood himself, good Roan, to give us counsel of the forest. And thee, Ulfman [Max] , a good yeoman who i have also called. I see some village reeves, Thomas Goodman, John of Upton, [he lists three more such fellows].I thank you all, I raise this cup to you. But pray you remember this meeting is secret. Never speak of it. " | " Who is here? I see some Gentlefolk. Sir Robert[Stinkyfool], Sir [Elfwine], Lady [Illtry]. And here, look, is the Wildman of Shirewood himself, good Roan, to give us counsel of the forest. And thee, Ulfman [Max] , a good yeoman who i have also called. I see some village reeves, Thomas Goodman, John of Upton, [he lists three more such fellows].I thank you all, I raise this cup to you. But pray you remember this meeting is secret. Never speak of it. " | ||
| − | "What has become of the Shirewood? In the time of the last Sheriff, Phillip | + | "What has become of the Shirewood? In the time of the last Sheriff, Phillip Mark, it was squeezed by Norman knights in hock to the King and desperate to to pay his war taxes. Mark had his own secret estates, which he bled white to line his own pocket. Guy of Gisborne was Mark's hound, and scarcely a peasant's cart was safe from the depredations of that fellow. But his bite is gone, he is but an old attendant of the King at the hunting lodge at yonder CLYPSTON. |
| − | "Now things should be better. Instead of Marc we have Sir Nicholas Huskell, a Saxon no less, and many Saxon knights restored to their lands in the forest. But times are worse, not better. Unused to authority, the Saxon lords neglect their lands, leaving them in the charge of useless stewards and corrupt reeves. The Norman knights do better , I am ashamed to say, for even if they hang a peasant for stealing a hen, they will give the folk their feasts and put a priest in their church | + | "Now things should be better. Instead of Phillip Marc we have Sir Nicholas Huskell, a Saxon no less, and many Saxon knights restored to their lands in the forest. But times are worse, not better. Unused to authority, the Saxon lords neglect their lands, leaving them in the charge of useless stewards and corrupt reeves. The Norman knights do better , I am ashamed to say, for even if they hang a peasant for stealing a hen, they will give the folk their feasts and put a priest in their church." |
| − | " What problems do we suffer because of this neglect? Bandits and footpads to be sure. Beasts , uncontrolled by the customary hunt, grow bold. But worse, too. Witches and their covens do their work, grown strong in the time of the ex-communictaion, when the dead passed unshriven. And the woods in places has grown wild and dangerous, with starnge spirits issuing from it. And now there is no Hood. No Merry Men to bring justice and protect the forest and its folk. | + | " But all of them,Saxon and Norman, prefer war to peacetime husbandry. Some never set foot in the forest. What problems do we suffer because of this neglect? Bandits and footpads to be sure. Beasts , uncontrolled by the customary hunt, grow bold. But worse, too. Witches and their covens do their work, grown strong in the time of the ex-communictaion, when the dead passed unshriven. And the woods in places has grown wild and dangerous, with starnge spirits issuing from it. And now there is no Hood. No Merry Men to bring justice and protect the forest and its folk. |
| − | "My life is ebbing from my wounds. I feel in my conscience that i have neglected my work as a lord, just as sorely as my peers. I have called you to help me bring balance to the wood. To assemble a new band of folk like those who attended the Hood in that former time of need. Not all here can leave their place and serve. I myself am too maimed to run free as a merry man. But i will do whatever I can. Money, horses, intelligence from Nottingham where i have...eyes and ears. | + | "My life is ebbing from my wounds. I feel in my conscience that i have neglected my work as a lord, just as sorely as my peers. I have called you to help me bring balance to the wood. To assemble a new band of folk like those who attended the Hood in that former time of need. Not all here can leave their place and serve. I myself am too maimed to run free as a merry man. But i will do whatever I can. Money, horses, intelligence from Nottingham where i have...eyes and ears. And you reeves, you must attend to your villages, but give shelter and aid to these men whenever they pass through your purview. |
| − | " But as for you five.... Surely | + | " But as for you five.... Surely god has placed you here at oyr time of need. extraordinary folk, worthy of the merry men. Ia sk you, ... to serve us as our Protectors. |
| − | + | Tuck satnds .he is very old now, no longer fat, but with drooping jowls where fat once hung. "This paper is an induldebce worth 100 mmarks. Until i put my pen on it. he scribbles, ruining the aper. But I have pur your names here. It is used. You may do what you must without fear of mortla suo0n. Right up to murder, though excluding of course usury. Murder? you'll probaly sp-end some time in purgatory, but manslaughter -." It is not clear how much the old man is joking. | |
