Physical strength has always come hand in hand with courage and spiritedness, but it is not just strength that is needed to be courageous. People need to be smart, attentive, and highly adaptable. This is one of the lessons children must learn in their formative years. And one of the fun ways to teach them these values is by reciting popular tales like the Robin Hood story in English. Robin Hood is one courageous and smart person who does good for poor people. His life is packed with thrill and action as he believes in doing good deeds by robbing wealthy people.
By now, we are sure you are almost ready to get up from your seat and find yourself a book on Robin Hood’s adventures, but wait. Scroll down to find the full story of Robin Hood and its origins!
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Origin and History Of Robin Hood
The origin of the legend of Robin Hood dates back to the ballads of the 14th and 15th centuries. Many historians call this character imaginary as no historical records are ever found connecting them to a real person.
Story Type Of Robin Hood
The Robin Hood story is a popular story full of action and surprises for kids that can be read any time of the day. You can ask your little one to read along with you to improve their reading skills and vocabulary.
Story Characters In Robin Hood
The story of Robin Hood has several characters, including Robin Hood (the main character), the Sheriff of Nottingham – the arch-enemy of Robin Hood, the king, William – the Sheriff’s man, and the Sheriff and Robin Hood’s friends.
Robin Hood Story For Children
Long ago, in England, there was a place called Sherwood Forest where Robin Hood lived. He was a smart young man who knew several card tricks and was skilled in archery. When Robin was a young child, he was cheated a lot by noblemen, and since then, he decided to do good for the poor people by robbing the rich.
The Sheriff of Nottingham was very angry with Robin Hood and had placed many rewards for whoever caught him. However, Robin Hood had many friends in Sherwood Forest and in Nottingham who made him their leader. They served him by acting as his loyal informers. Whenever the Sheriff planned to catch Robin, his informers would let Robin Hood know everything. That is why the Sheriff could not catch him, and the rich people were scared of going through the Sherwood Forest. They knew Robin Hood would attack and loot all their money and things if they went through the forest.
Since the Sheriff could not catch Robin Hood, he decided to take help from the king. The king also refused to send any of his men to capture Robin Hood. Without anyone’s help, the Sheriff of Nottingham finally thought of a plan.
He collected a few noblemen and told them his plan, “Let us keep a competition of archery in Nottingham for the best archer. In the prize, we will present the winner with a golden arrow. Robin Hood is a good archer, and after hearing about this competition, he will not be able to resist himself.”
One of the noblemen replied, “Yes, very well. This competition shall bring him out.”
The Sheriff continued, “He will surely participate in this competition, and when he comes, my fellows will capture him.” All of the noblemen agreed to this plan.
Robin Hood absolutely loved archery, and he was, indeed, an excellent archer in the whole of Nottingham. When he heard of this news from his men, he got excited, “Great, absolutely great! I would love to go to this competition.”
However, his loyal men tried to warn him. “Robin, this competition is a trap to catch you”, said one of his loyal men, “It would be stupid to participate in this competition, knowing it is fake,” said another. But Robin was too excited to listen to any of his fellows.
The next day, all the arrangements to trap Robin Hood at the competition were made. The guards were placed at all places, the audience was full, and participants were ready. The Sheriff whispered to one of his guards, “Has Robin come?” The guard looked around and replied, “No, your highness. He is not here.” The Sheriff asked him how he could be so confident. The guard said, “Your highness, Robin Hood has red hair, but none of the participants has red hair.” The Sheriff scoffed in an amusing tone, “He must be scared out of his wits.”
The competition finally began. William, a fellow who worked under the Sheriff, also participated in the competition. All the participants were wearing green outfits and started showing their skills. It was the final round for the last arrow to be shot.
Willam, the Sheriff’s man, took the aim and shot. His arrow went very close to the centre. Everyone in the audience applauded, “Yay, hurray!” “Good shot”. The Sheriff also praised William for his great performance, “Very good, William.”
Finally, it was the turn of the next contestant in the green outfit. He let go of his arrow for the aim. The arrow went straight through William’s arrow and through the bull’s eye. The audience hysterically cheered as they were surprised to see such an excellent performance.
Within that moment, the young man in a green outfit let go of two more arrows that went straight to the Sheriff and stuck on either side of his chair. The Sheriff was confused and angry at the same time. “Who is this young man?” he thought to himself.
Before the Sheriff could race his mind and recover, the man with the arrows threw off his black wig on the ground. The man was none other than Robin Hood! The Sheriff was stunned. Robin Hood then ran towards his waiting horse. After he hopped on the horse, he said to the Sheriff, “Until next time, dear Sheriff!”
Too stunned, the helpless Sheriff shouted to his guards, “Get him, you fools.” “It’s Robin Hood!” “ He is escaping.” Unfortunately for the Sheriff, it was too late; Robin Hood was long gone.
Story Summary Of Robin Hood
The summary of the short story of Robin Hood is as follows:
Robin Hood was a young man living in England’s Sherwood Forest of Nottingham. The Sheriff of Nottingham was the arch-enemy of Robin Hood as Robin would loot the rich people who went through the Sherwood Forest. A lot of people of Nottingham supported Robin and called him their leader. They would always supply the information to him and be loyal to him.
One day the Sheriff plotted a plan with noblemen to catch Robin Hood. His plan included an archery competition with a golden arrow as a prize, which Robin could not refuse as he loved archery very much. Despite his loyal people warning him, Robin went to the archery competition.
On the day of the competition, the Sheriff had planted his guards everywhere to catch Robin wherever they saw him. Every participant in the competition wore green suits, and Robin was nowhere to be seen. The competition started, and all participants tried their hands at archery. In the final round, William, the Sheriff’s man, shot his arrow, which went very close to the centre. Another man shot an arrow that went straight through William’s arrow and into the bull’s eye. He was none other than Robin Hood. The crowd hysterically cheered for him. Before the Sheriff could understand that the last participant was none other than Robin Hood, Robin hopped on his horse and escaped.
What Lesson Did Your Child Learn From This Story?
The lesson we learn in this short story is that we should know right from wrong. We must also be courageous to stand against injustice and be prepared to help the needy and less fortunate.
How Can Children Apply the Lesson of the Story in Their Real Life?
Even though stealing is a bad will, children can learn to be courageous, smart, and kind to the poor with the help of this story with pictures. We can learn different ways to make the world a better place with the right deeds, like feeding the poor, helping senior citizens with their chores and spending some quality time with them, helping stray animals, etc.
Also Read:
The Happy Prince Story for Children
Pinocchio Short Story with Moral for Kids
The Owl And The Lion Story for Children with Moral
