Dishonesty
Arrogance
Cockiness
Absurd determinism
God complex
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He possessed all of these. Every single one. It was infuriating.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2kfwGXXAZ
It was a simpler time. Or so we all thought. The king was away doing God’s work, he had taken all the best men and raised our taxes but we did’t mind much - it was for God.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIERfnnMbR
But then the king was away longer than he said he would be. And then he managed to get himself captured. His mother set about raising money for a ransom, but it was too much. The villages were bursting at the seams trying to hold everything together. The mill in our village had to be shut down; the family could no longer afford to run it. Then without the mill, our bread supplies ran low. We had to buy from other villages, and they charged extra. As a result, we couldn’t afford our taxes. And the Sheriff was anything but forgiving. Small children had hands amputated, or spent nights in the dungeon for stealing a crust of bread.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxXTyKKZIq
And then Robin returned home. Long haired, travel weary and carrying a shield scratched and battered with blood stains that were not his own. And suddenly there was hope. Surely his return foreshadowed the return of the king, the return of all our soldiers in the Holy Land.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIpNO4zmn0
He walked through the village, nodding his head at each peasant working in the fields.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPJxkOrQQX
It took a few weeks before he was officially an outlaw. He managed to get on the sherif’s last nerve. Granted that wasn’t difficult, but Robin managed to do it with remarkable speed.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gPc8MIWpT
He moved into the forest, telling himself that he was in the right. Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6QTQeR9G5
He was still young, and the years in the Holy Land had given him a distinct ‘bad boy’ quality that made women weak at the knees. He had seen the world, travelled far and wide, spoke different languages now, and above all he believed in justice and protecting those weaker than himself. His dark brown eyes would flash with rage when he saw another peasant hand over a bag of coins to the sheriff’s tax men. His slender fingers would caress the sword hanging at his hip, wanting to draw the blade and chase the tax collectors off. He brought hope. Men would nod their heads with more than respect when he passed, women would fall to their knees with thanks when he bestowed them with a little extra cash. Everyone seemed to adore him.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlZKyWDnRL
But I found him insufferable.
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1. Dishonesty663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02xMBTLlMv
The lies could fall from his lips so easily. So easily it almost worried me. Marian would go to see him, and I would come along, always worried for her safety. She would confront Robin about that carriage he had robbed last week, it contained a donation from a lord who wanted King Richard home so desperately, he had willingly raised money from his own household. He wanted it to go to the King, not to the poor. She had insisted. It wasn’t a tax. It wasn’t the Sheriff asking for the coins. The lord gave it willingly. Robin would smirk slightly. But he was rich, he would say. Marian would wait for a moment, a puzzling look on her face. I rob from the rich. Robin would offer as an explanation, saying it so lightly that anyone would have thought he was discussing the weather. If it makes you sleep better at night, I’ll no longer rob from those willingly donating money to the Sheriff and the King’s ransom effort, he said earnestly. Marian nodded and headed back home, I went with her. Of course he had lied. Only three days later, he robbed a carriage from the same lord, taking every penny.
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2. Arrogance663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8uSV51ZcU6
I don’t know whether it was his brush with the Holy Land or just the way he saw the world, but as the days wore on, he saw himself as the saviour of the people of England. He would steal from the sheriff incessantly, throwing coins back at the poor in the villages around Nottingham. But then the Sheriff would raise the tax again, higher than it had been the first time, and bleed the peasants dry once more. So Robin would rob the Sheriff again. And the Sheriff would raise taxes again. And Robin would steal them again. And again the Sheriff would raise them… and so it went on, and on. And on. It seemed that it would never end, not at least until the King returned.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ27W1nOh7m
“It’s not theft! It is the Sheriff stealing from the people, not I!” He insisted. Determined to prove himself in the right. “I am right here Marian, see. Because who else will look after the people whilst the King is away?” He would say. Marian would take it up with him several times. Cousin to the King, and conscious that the taxes the Sheriff was raising would go toward saving her beloved cousin, the captive King, something about Robin’s activities did not sit right with her.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEElH0FV1Ud
“You think you are as important as the King?” She would say incredulously.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIQmUHWVfX
“Of course I am.” He would say, with a shrug and a small grin, like it was the truest thing in the world. He genuinely believed it, too.
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3. Cockiness663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QzPOAI94Z
Perhaps this is the quality that annoyed me the most. Robin Hood was under the impression that every woman in the North of England spent every moment of every waking day swooning over him. He would wink at the young widow on the edge of town every time he gave her a leather pouch of coins. He would smile at every lady he would see, but his smile was not a nice I am pleased to help you smile. It was a I’m an outlaw, and I know how attractive that prospect is to you. Wouldn’t you like to have me all to yourself, just for one night? smile. It was infuriating.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xivi2H7N4
Yet although he would flirt with any woman he met, he was never serious. Marian was different. As her lady in waiting, I went everywhere with her. I saw how Robin’s face would change when he saw her. I saw the immense effort he put into whatever he was doing when she was around. When she was in the forest, he would swing down a piece of rope to descend from up a tree, rather than use the ladder to his left. He was a notorious show off. He would land on the ground with a light thud and a smirk on that perfectly chiseled face of his.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUPGIigzTD
“Couldn’t stay away from me, could you Marian?” He would say, every time. She would smile (when she wasn’t annoyed with him) and he would offer her a drink.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtFvmLBVGz
As she would leave, he would walk the pair of us to the road. He would say “You’ll be back tomorrow. You couldn’t stand to be away from me for more than a day.” Marian would shake her head, telling him he was delusional with a schoolboy’s crush and he would laugh. “You say that, Lady Marian, but yet here you are. In my forest. Again.” He would say with a wink, turning away from her and walking back to his camp, turning to look back at her as he went.
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4. Absurd Determinism
“Robin, it is folly! You’ll get us all killed!” Little John said, from his seat on the tree stump in the corner.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyN4YvFOXf
“The sheriff is moving almost his entire funds through here, it is the perfect opportunity!” Robin insisted.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7I7VqvF5fs
“Robin, the sheriff will have that chest guarded more securely than anything else. Whilst he is moving the chest, the majority of his guards will be on the look out for you instead of guarding the castle. Why don’t we attack the castle instead?” One man suggested. Robin shook his head.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYb6EMTe9g
“There will be little money in the castle. It will all be in that chest.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH03c1KpBgy
“Robin, the king needs that money to be freed. Once he is freed, he will get rid of the Sheriff and return England to peace. Surely we can let this one chest go. Just this one.” Little John chimed in.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fooxO93DQ
“You sound like Marian.” Robin said, growing irritated. “We take the chest. That will be the end of it.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5X7K8sS9e
Another man attempted to protest, but one look from Robin and he stopped.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmLMWaoRiY
“I am Robin Hood. If I want to do something, I will do it.” He said, his eyes burning with determination.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7gep5NDwd
He was an idiot. He would never listen to reason. Once he had decided to do something, nothing could sway him. That was why he could never leave Marian alone for too long - he had long ago decided he was going to marry her.
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5. God Complex
At first, Robin was reluctant to take a life. The horrors of the Holy Land echoed still in his mind, stopping him from releasing the arrow, even when he wanted to so badly. Even when the villain in question deserved death. Many times he had the sheriff in his sights. Many times he had lightly ran his finger of the shaft of the arrow and put it in place, hearing the string of the bow tighten as he pulled it back as far as it would go. He would take a moment, to aim, to think. And then he would relax the string and put the arrow back in his quiver.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20JvjrKHur
But that was at the start. Later, he lost all qualms of killing servants of the sheriff. He killed the guards that protected the coins easily. Even then, he was determined to show off. Instead of shooting one arrow, he would load two or three onto the bow at the same time and shoot them all at once. He was a remarkable showman. But then Marian would arrive in the forest, furious that he had taken an innocent life because only God could give and take life!663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrX5RqLJ4K
“I am a crusader. I have the right to take life on the behalf of God.” He would say with a shrug.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjhvTLi1SE
“You were a crusader.” I would point out. “Now you are an outlaw in the forests of England.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGeFh8VXeO
He would wink as though my comment did not bother him, and turn back to Marian.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrC5l1NMv2H
“I am right, Marian.” His young face smooth and his eyes burned into hers, willing her to believe him, because this was one rare moment when he wasn’t lying. He truly believed himself right. “If I don’t protect these people, no one will. They need me. They would be lost without me. Perhaps a crusade should be launched here, in Nottingham. I shall lead it! Robin Hood: God’s representative here in Nottingham!” He would say with a laugh.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uT6zOuCbE
Marian would shrug. “I am glad you are back Robin, but do you really need to kill the Sheriff’s guards?”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsvNe9kNHm
“Yes. They would kill me, given the chance. And we can’t have that now can we?” He said with a small laugh, brushing hair away from her face.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5k3i1Wzco
She smiled a little.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLgcFgVxBv
“I am Robin Hood, Marian. Robin Hood.” He said softly, as though that explained everything.
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I know he’s a good man. I know he means well and I know that Marian sees the good in him. What’s worse is that no matter how much he annoys me, how much he infuriates me, I cannot hate him. His cockiness charms even me, even when I try so hard to resist. His determinism angers me, because sometimes he is simply stupid, but I cannot help but admire his ambition. His arrogance humours me and even I must admit, although I cannot stand Robin Hood, he’s irresistibly likeable.
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