850 ROBIN HOOD.

wing on the left, so that the building was not complete. Now
the monk who came to Gamewell Hall was very sorry about this,
and wished very much to have a left wing to his abbey : so he
made his squire believe that he could not die like a good man,
unless he gave the whole of his estate to Fountain Abbey. The
squire was very ill, and hardly knew what he did; he forgot
Robin Hood, and all that he had said he would do for him, and
signed a paper that themonk brought him, to giveaway hisestate.
‘As soon as Robin Hood heard that his uncle was very ill, he made
haste home; but the squire was dead a quarter of an hour before
Robin came. The monks now turned Robin out of the hall ;
and as his father was poor, Robin was thus sent out into the
world to seek his fortune. Robin Hood did not know what to do;
hehad been used to live like a rich man, and did not know how
to work, for he had learned no trade, He however got together
a number of young men, who had been brought up like himself,
and were just as poor; and they went to live what they called a
merry life, in Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham, Here there
was plenty of deer, and Robin Hood and his company were very
excellent marksmen at shooting them with the cross-bow ; but
they wanted something besides meat to eat, so they at once turned
robbers, After this, no man could travel alone through Sherwood
Forest without being stripped of his money. Robin Hood and
his company too did not confine themselves to Sherwood Forest,
but sometimes went to plunder other parts of England. His
gang soon grew to about a hundred in number, and they were
some of the tallest, finest, and boldest men in the kingdom.
Robin Hood dressed them in a uniform: he himself always
wore scarlet ; and each of his men had a green coat, a pair of
breeches, and a cap.

Though Robin Hood was a robber, which, to be sure, isa very
bad thing, yet he behaved in such a manner as to have the good