"We have had no guests for a long time," said Robin Hood one day. "Let us go out and look for some. Little John, you go to the east and I will go to the west, and we will see if we do not find passing a greedy noble, or fat churchman who carries too much of this world's goods with him, and needs to be relieved for the good of the poor."

Now when Robin Hood and his men robbed a man—and they never molested any but the rich who had made their wealth by grinding down the poor—they brought him into the forest and made a feast for him. Then, after he had feasted, they told him he must pay his reckoning, and they took his goods or gold that he carried and divided these into three piles. One-third they gave back to him; one-third they kept for themselves; and the other third they distributed to the poor. The rich and grasping shuddered at the very mention of Robin Hood's feasts, but the poor breathed blessings on his name whenever they thought of them.

So Little John and his part of the band went to the east; and they were lucky, for they brought in the rich bishop of Hereford with five sumpter mules loaded with goods. But Robin Hood and his half found only a sorrowful knight who sighed as he rode along and seemed too sad to notice anything. Robin Hood laid his hand on his bridle, stopping his horse.

"Hold," he said. "I would speak with you."

"Now who are you who would stop a peaceful traveler on the king's highway?" asked the knight.

"Some call me an honest man and some call me a robber," answered Robin Hood. "At any rate, I and my men have an inn in the forest where we want you to stop and feast. But we let you know that we count upon our guests paying their reckoning."

"I take your meaning," answered the knight, "but I am no guest for you, for I have no money. Indeed, I am in great sorrow by reason of this very thing. Having great need of money to save the life of my son, I mortgaged my estate to the prior of Emmet and, though I could raise the money if he would give me more time, he will not give me a day, but means to seize the estate and turn me out a beggar."

"How much money did you borrow of him?" asked Robin Hood.

"Only four hundred pounds. The estate is worth many times that but he will show no mercy."

"Have you no friends who could lend you the money?" asked Robin Hood.

"Alas, no," answered the knight. "When I was fortunate I had many friends who crowded around me, but now that I have come to trouble they have all deserted me."

"Well, the men who are in trouble always have friends in Sherwood Forest," answered Robin Hood. "Come with me as a free guest and we will find a way to help you."

So they went on until they came to the great tree where Friar Tuck and half a dozen others were preparing the feast around a huge fire. And there in the light of the flames sat the bishop of Hereford under guard, with his sumpter mules with their loaded packs tied to the trees around.

"Have mercy," he whined. But Robin Hood answered sternly.

"What mercy have you ever shown to the poor? Men, open his packs!"

So they opened the packs, which were full of rich goods and divided them into three parts. Beside the packs of goods there was a box that held fifteen hundred pounds in gold. Robin Hood took up the portion divided out for the poor and gave it to the sorrowful knight.

"Since the churchmen have despoiled you, the churchmen shall help you," he said.

"Oh, I thank you," cried the knight, his sorrowful face lighting up for the first time that day. "But I will not take it as a gift but as a loan. I will pay it back to the bishop or to you."

The bishop nodded and opened his mouth to say "That is well," but Robin Hood interrupted him shortly.

"Pay it to me," he said. "I will help the poor with it. The bishop would but crowd it into his own coffers, and use it to gain more money."

So the knight who had been so sorrowful departed with all his troubles cleared away. Sorely disappointed was the prior of Emmet for he had made sure by cheating and craft that the poor knight who had fallen into his clutches could not get the money to redeem his lands anywhere, and he counted them already in his grasp. But he had to give them up; and that is a story too, but we have not room to tell it here.