may be killed if we play at archery. It is dangerous sport and I mean to do you no harm, my boy. Come, put up your bow and arrow and let us try our skill with bucklers and swords. It has been a long time since I have had a bit of swordplay. What do you s say?"

"As you wish,” replied the youth, who now began to believe that Robin was really only seeking a little amusement.

"That bit of flat turf is a good place for our sport," 10 said Robin. "Come!"

In a few moments they were ready with bucklers and broadswords, and from the coppice Little John watched the finest swordplay he had ever seen. They parried and thrust with well-matched skill for almost half an 15 hour, but neither gained the least advantage.

Finally Robin cried out: "Enough, my friend; it has been many a day since I matched skill with such an expert swordsman. Gladly would I welcome you to join my band of merry men, for you are as plucky as 20 you are skillful. May I ask your name, good youth?" "My name is Gamwell," answered the hunter. "I was born and bred in Maxfield town."

"Gamwell!" cried Robin, looking steadily into the youth's eyes. "Gamwell, from Maxfield town, do 25 you say? Tell me quickly, lad, why did you come to the greenwood?"

"To seek a cousin of mine whom men call Robin

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Hood! Can you help me to find him, good forester?" asked the stranger eagerly.

Then Robin clasped the youth in his arms and said tenderly: "You are my aunt Gamwell's child! She 5 died when you were a lad of five years. I am Robin Hood, my boy!"

"Robin Hood! My cousin, Robin Hood!" repeated the youth in amazement. "Had I known you, I never could have held my own in swordplay."

"I am proud of your skill," said Robin, "but tell me, lad, why are you seeking me in the greenwood?"

"Because the most valuable part of my inherited land is claimed by a Norman baron whose estate. joins mine. You know well, cousin, what injustice we 15 Saxons suffer under Prince John's tyranny.

"That I do," answered Robin with a sigh. "In the greenwood, my lad, you will find perfect peace. I am glad you have come."

At that moment Little John stepped out of the cop20 pice and walked toward Robin and the stranger. "You have tarried a long while, master," he said as he drew near. "Are you ready to go?"

"Come forward, Little John," said Robin. "I have pleasant news for you. This youth is Will Gamwell, a 25 cousin of mine, who has come to live with us in the greenwood."

"I am glad to welcome you," said Little John holding out his hand. "You can handle the long bow with

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great skill, and master will admit that you can play a clever sword game.

"He can, indeed," said Robin smiling. "But, Little John, if he comes to the greenwood he must have a new name. What shall it be?"

"It is easy to guess his favorite color, master," said Little John, with a twinkle in his eyes as he glanced at the youth's doublet and stockings. "Why not call him Scarlet?"

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"Scarlet!" quoth Robin merrily. "Will Scarlet ! 10 Well chosen, Little John! Cousin, from this day you shall be called Will Scarlet, and I name you my chief man, next to Little John. Come, let us go to the trysting tree and join the other lads. You shall have a merry feast with us and later you shall hear the 15 greenwood rules which my men faithfully keep."

"Master Robin, may I give my first quarry to your band?" asked the youth.

"To be sure, lad," said Robin. "We are in need of venison."

Now Robin Hood, Scarlet, and Little John

Are walking over the plain

With a good fat buck which Will Scarlet

With his strong bow had slain.

-Tales and Plays of Robin Hood.

1. Dramatize this story. How many persons are needed to do so?

2. Find all you can about Robin Hood. Who was he?

3. List the unusual words in the lesson and find their meaning.

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A BOLD SEA-ROVER

BY AGNES VINTON LUTHER

The Norsemen were hardy and daring seamen. They discovered Iceland and Greenland, and sailed their little craft to the shores of North America five hundred years before Columbus made his voyages across the Atlantic. Eric the Red and his son Leif the Lucky are the greatest of the Norse sea-rovers.

A

MONG the vessels which left Iceland for Green

land was one commanded by Bjorn, a sailor, whose father had preceded him to the western country. On the way to Greenland, Bjorn was driven far out 5 of his course by a great gale.

"Where are the sea god and his daughters carrying me?" he cried in rage. "South, south, south, they are sending me, when the land I seek lies to the north." Up and down the vessel's deck he stamped, little 10 dreaming that he was sailing toward a land a thousand times more beautiful than Greenland, Iceland, or even Norway.

When the wind fell it left the little Iceland vessel near the shore of a land where magnificent trees came 15 down to the water's edge. Great masses of pink flowers blossomed along the shore; the air was mild and birds flew from tree to tree, singing among the branches.

"Let us land," pleaded the sailors. "There was 20 never such a wonderful country as this to which the storms have driven us."

"No," said Bjorn; "this is not Greenland. This is not the land we have crossed the seas to find and we will waste no time here." In spite of all that anyone could do, Bjorn allowed no one to go ashore, but insisted on sailing northward. When he reached s Greenland, and Eric the Red heard of the land he had seen, he burst into one of his rages.

"Fool, fool!" he cried. "Why did you not land and take possession of it in the name of Norway? You have missed the one great chance of your life. Get 10 you hence and never let me see your face again."

Now Eric the Red had a son, Leif, called Leif the Lucky, who had his father's same venturesome spirit. When he heard Bjorn's story he longed to go and find this new land in the south. At last he went to 15 Bjorn and begged him to sail with him to the new country. Leif found him carving a rune, or saying, on an oar which he was making for an old fishing boat that had been nearly wrecked on his last trip. These were the words, "Oft was I tired when I drew thee." 20

"Come," said Leif the Lucky, "be my guide to the Southland. You shall be master of the ship and your words shall be obeyed."

"No," answered Bjorn. "Bad fortune follows any expedition which I make."

Leif pleaded in vain, though he finally persuaded Bjorn to sell him the vessel in which he had made his famous voyage. In addition to this, Bjorn gave him

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