Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow

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Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow is Child ballad 152.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

The sheriff of Nottingham complains to King Richard of Robin Hood. The king declares that the sheriff is his sheriff and must catch him. The sheriff decides to trap him with an archery contest, where the prizes would be arrows with golden and silver heads. Robin decides to compete, despite a warning from David of Doncaster that it's a trap. Robin goes in disguise and wins. At Little John's advice, a letter is written to the sheriff and shot into his hall, telling the truth.

[edit] Trivia

This episode appears in Mel Brooks' 1993 Robin Hood spoof, "Robin Hood: Men in Tights", when the Sherrif of Rottingham sets up an archery contest to lure Robin Hood. After Maid Marian has warned Robin not to go to the fair, as there will be men there waiting to kill him, she exclaims "Oh, I'm so happy! They were going to try to lure you there by having an archery contest." However, once he knows there will be an archery contest, Robin can no longer resist, and is consequently "lured".

This event also appears in the Disney Movie Robin Hood, with the prizes instead being a golden arrow and a kiss from Maid Marian.

[edit] See also

There are many archery contests in the legends of Robin Hood, but many of them are clearly derived from this source, as in Howard Pyle's Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. Other variants are more closely related to the older contest included in A Gest of Robyn Hode, where they are recognized and must fight free.