The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Pyle, 1883)

In this classic collection, American author and illustrator Howard Pyle brings the old English folk tales and ballads of Robin Hood to life, collecting them together in a semi-unified narrative that offers blissful escape, adventure, and humor.

Perhaps the ultimate bromance, Pyle's Robin Hood is filled with brawlers who turn into buddies, merry pranks, light-hearted outlawry, and other archetypal male bonding scenarios.  Poor Maid Marian gets two mentions in passing as Robin briefly calls her to mind before moving on to some new adventure. This version is all about brotherhood, excellence in combative sport, and Robin's peculiar sense of justice. Rich, stingy fellows like the Sherrif of Nottingham and the Bishop of Hereford each have their turn footing the bill for a dinner party in Sherwood Forest, which, aside from the part where their money is removed from them, they can't help but enjoy, being in such merry company.

Though Pyle is mostly remembered today as an artist and illustrator, and indeed his black-and-white faux-medieval illustrations for Robin Hood are classics in and of themselves, his skill as a prose writer and storyteller should not be overlooked. Pyle weaves intriguing and entertaining tales with enviable ease and grace, drawing you in to the landscape and characters as naturally as a brook running through the forest.

And of course, the stories are classics:  Robin winning the Sherrif's archery tournament in disguise, Friar Tuck and Robin forcing each to give the other a piggy-back ride across a river, Little John busting the head of the Sherrif's lackey who refuses to open the kitchen for him, and diverse daring rescues of compatriots from pending execution or near incarceration. As Pyle says in his preface: "You who so plod amid serious things that you feel it shame to give yourself up even for a few short moments to mirth and joyousness in the land of Fancy; you who think that life hath nought to do with innocent laughter that can harm no one; these pages are not for you."

Arbitrary rating: 4 out of 5 brawlers turned buddies