Week 12: Reading Diary- Ballads of Robin Hood

These are my thoughts on the Ballads of Robin Hood...

Progress to Nottingham:

I like these ballads. They have a sing-song vibe that makes them really enjoyable to read. It took me a little while to get used to it, but after getting the hang of it, I like it a lot. This Robin Hood is kind of a cold-blooded killer. He kills fifteen men, just because they failed to pay up on a bet. Seems pretty brutal to me.

Little John:

This is such a great way to become friends haha! In my experience, guys are certainly capable of becoming close friends after a fight. I would guess that, especially in that time period, fighting creates a certain level of respect between two men that might spark a close friendship. This is also a great story for my storytelling.

The Butcher:

Robin is a lovable rogue. He certainly enjoys himself at other peoples' expense. I wonder how most of the people of his time would have viewed him? Do they see him as the hero we do? Or is he just a harmless trickster? Hopefully, we will find out.

The Ranger:

I'm beginning to see a sign of Robin Hood gaining followers through combat. He earns a man's respect in a fight, and then the man joins Robin's band of outlaws. It also seems like deserting society has a certain appeal in Robin's time, and I think it still does today.

The Bold Pedlar:

Again, it seems that Robin Hood does not meet anyone without fighting them first. It seems like a fitting initiation into his boy's club. It also seems like no one ever actually wins these encounters. They end in a draw and eventually a meal.

The Shepherd:

I think I finally understand why Robin Hood is always so eager to fight anyone he comes across. He must be super bored, living in the woods all alone. I'm sure that he didn't get to see other people too often, so any time he saw one, he would be eager to test himself against. It also seems like he always loses, even to a lowly shepherd.

Robin Hood's Delight:

Well this time it was a three on three fight. Robin, Little John, and a new character, Will Scarlock, fight three of the kings men. The trend continues, and they fight to more or less a draw, and then go on and become friends. When is Robin going to become the hero that we expect him to be?

The Pedlars:

I think that these stories would be even more entertaining if we heard them sung as they would have been in the proper time period. These things are pretty much the television of that day and age. It would be a real treat to get to hear them now and again.

Allen a Dale:

This is Robin Hood, the matchmaker haha. This is also the first time that we have had any mention of a woman in the stories so far. I bet Robin and his band of outlaws would be incredibly eager to doing anything that would involve a woman. Living in the forest with all men would probably get pretty lonely after awhile haha.

Rescuing Three Squires:

Robin Hood is finally beginning to look more like the hero that we would expect him to be. In the last two stories, he has reunited a couple and saved three squires. He is beginning to enact the justice outside the law that we have come to love about him. Everyone loves a vigilante. He's the medieval Batman haha!