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Chapter 17. Alan-A-Dale’s Wedding

“Let us take a walk through the forest” suggested Robin one quiet summer evening.

“You have more energy than six men put together”, laughed Maid Marian, as she finished the last patch on one of the outlaw’s suits.

Together they set out through the greenwood, drinking in the sounds and scents of the forest, which shone green and gold in the evening sunlight.

“It’s good to be alive on an evening like this”, said Maid Marian happily.

“Hark!” cried Robin suddenly. “It sounds as if someone in the forest agrees with you”.

From a short distance ahead came the musical sound of a well-trained baritone voice, singing a gay balled of the day. There seemed to be a hush over the woodland while the voice sang out, as if the animals and birds were listening enraptured.

Robin and Marian walked in the direction of the merry notes. They crossed the border of beech-trees that formed the line of a clearing in the forest. Walking gaily along on the other side of the open space was a young man. He had a stick in his hand, which at every pause in his song he would swish merrily through the air.

Robin pulled Marian back behind a tree as the young man half turned; but he had not seen them, and he walked carelessly onwards, to vanish a moment later into the belt of trees.

“There is a happy young man for you”, cried Robin, “one without a care in the world!”

They wondered off in a different direction and took a roundabout route back to the camp.

A week later the two were walking again in the same direction when they saw once more the merry youth whose song had rung through the forest. Now, however, he was lying full length in the grass, silent and sad. Only his bright orange hose betrayed him to Robin and Marian as they wandered into the clearing.

“Perhaps he knows no more songs”, whispered Robin, glancing at him.

“There’s something strangely sorrowful about him”, replied Maid Marian.

Robin and Marian walked towards the youth. At the sound of their footsteps he sprang up, eyeing them with suspicion.

“What do you want?” he demanded.

“We want nothing”, returned Robin, “but you looked so dejected lying there that we wished to know if aught ailed you. Only a week ago we saw you here, singing heartily, as if you hadn’t a care at all. Yet today it would seem that all the trouble in the world has fallen upon your shoulders”.

“If you want to know”, said the youth, none too politely, “there is woe enough in my heart”.

“Can we help you?”

“No, there is no one who can help me”. Then, as if repenting of his manner, he went on, “A week ago I was going to marry a very beautiful maiden. Ellen is her name. We were planning to be married soon. The world was indeed a gay and happy place. Then, this morning, came the dreadful news that tomorrow Ellen must marry a Norman baron”.

“And is the Lady Ellen in love with the baron?” asked Maid Marian in her practical way.

“Madam, she is as heartbroken as I”.

“I don’t understand”, put in Robin. “Tell us more of this, young man. First, what is your name?”

“Men call me Alan-a-Dale”, answered the youth.

“And why is the Lady Ellen going to marry the baron?”

“Her father has fallen on hard tines”, explained Alan-a-Dale. “The Norman baron is rich, and he has offered a large sum of money if Ellen’s father will give him his daughter’s hand”.

“And so poor Ellen will be married to this baron just because the father is in need of money!” exclaimed Maid Marian. “It is a shameful bargain!”

“Where is the wedding to take place?” asked Robin.

“At an abbey near Nottingham”.

“Robin”, pleaded Maid Marian, “we must help this young man. We can’t let two young people in love be parted to please the whim of an autocratic Norman. We must act”.

“We will”, said Robin. With a determined air, he turned again to Alan-a-Dale. “Have no fear”, he said. “The wedding shall be stopped tomorrow. But there is a price. The price shall be that you join my band of outlaws, if Ellen is willing. She would be right good company for Marian”.

“I guessed you were Robin Hood”, said the young man. “I give you my oath on your demand, for I would have joined you anyway if the marriage had taken place between Ellen and baron”.

“Then come back to my camp with me”, Robin invited him. “I will introduce you to my good comrades”.

The tree walked back to Robin’s camp. Robin gathered his men about him, and when they were all seated told them the story of Alan-a-Dale and his ladylove. The outlaws were keen to know how their leader planned to stop the wedding on the following day; but Robin had then worked out a plan. Later, he sat apart from his band, and thought deeply.

Early the next morning the Abbey bells pealed out loudly, announcing the wedding to all the townsfolk. Later, inside the Abbey, all the seats were full. Such a large congregation had never before been in the old building. Few guessed, however, that it wasn’t so much the townspeople’s desire to see the marriage as the fact that Robin Hood’s men were there in force, disguised as ordinary folk, that swelled the congregation to such an extent.

“Here she comes, now!” the whisper ran round the crowd.

All eyes were turned to the doorway as Ellen, beautiful in her white wedding gown, entered. She was sad at heart and found it hard to smile. She knew her life was being sacrificed to the Norman baron’s gold.

A rough, dirty-looking individual thrust himself towards her and her father, who was accompanying her down the aisle.

“I come to bring the maiden luck”, laughed the rough-looking fellow.

It was often considered lucky for a tramp or a chimney-sweep to be present at a wedding. The three walked up to the altar, where the baron was waiting. His thin lips tightened as he saw the rough vagabond. Impertinent fellow! How dare he accost his future bride? The three figures reached his side. This was not the place to make a scene. The baron remained silent, and beamed at his bride-to-be.

Suddenly he cried out: “Take your hand from me!”

The beam had died on the baron’s face, and he shouted loudly as the tramp grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

“Stand aside“, ordered the vagabond, roughly, throwing off his clothes and revealing a suit of Lincoln green.

It was Robin Hood!

Robin faced his men in the congregation and beckoned them to him. They ran to him from all parts of the Abbey.

To the amazement of the Bishop, who was standing ready to perform the ceremony, Robin raised his horn to his lips. Immediately, six archers appeared at the doorway, each with his bow at the ready. They made way for the entrance of a lone figure. He marched lightly down the aisle. It was Alan-a-Dale. As Ellen recognized him, she gave a cry of delight.

“My lord Bishop”, said Robin, loudly, so that everyone in the Abbey could hear, “you were about to marry together two people who would never have been happy. The bride shall marry the person she loves. Ask her who that is!”

“This is most irregular…” began the outraged Bishop.

“Ask her!” repeated Robin.

“Well, who is it?” asked the Bishop, nervously, turning to Ellen.

“Alan-a-Dale is the man I love”, replied Ellen without hesitation.

“Then I cannot perform the ceremony”, blustered the Bishop. “I have never been so…”

“That is all right”, cut in Robin. “Forward, men!”

Robin’s men pushed the infuriated Bishop aside. He struggled to free himself, and two of the outlaws sat on him to keep him quiet.

“The good Friar Tuck shall perform the ceremony”, said Robin.

The friar ambled down the aisle, with a benign smile on his face. He smiled at Robin, smiled at the Bishop, who was red in the face at the indignity of being sat on, and turned to the two lovers standing before him.

Alan-a-Dale and Ellen were married at once. They embraced each other in happy contentment as they became man and wife. What had looked like being a great tragedy ended happily, after all.

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Chapter 16. The Merry Widow	\|	Chapter 18. The Black Monks

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