More Merry Men
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Little John A common joke in Sherwood is that "Robin will never need a dog."
The Gentle Giant of Sherwood is Robin's faithful lieutenant. |
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| Oddly so, because John WILL question Robin on policies he disagrees
with. John Naylor (some legends name his John Little, but
that's pretty damned coincidental) came to Sherwood when he had
to leave his village for some trouble. Likely he inadvertently
killed a man who provoked him, as some will. John has a verrrry slow temper, but can explode when he sees innocents abused, especially children. He can't sit down without a kid climbing in his lap. Women too. As Robin notes, "Women flock to see if his cock is as big as the rest of him." Backing the fled-outlaw theory is that, when John first arrived in Sherwood, he had a chip on his shoulder. Most Sherwooders dared not with him, though Will Scarlett ragged him unmercifully, so John hated Will for a long time. Robin Hood, himself possessed of an attitude and temper, fought with the famous quarterstaff duel on the bridge. John easily knocked Robin in the water, goes the story. My addition is, he knocked him in the water thirteen times. John finally gave up rather than kill Robin, and has followed him ever since. It's said in Sherwood that the only man who can beat Little John is Robin himself, though no one's quite sure how. Little John wears brown the year round, being told, "Stand still and ye'll pass for a tree." He eschews a hat or hood except in the worst weather, preferring his head bare and his long brown hair braided behind. He never lacks for a woman's hand to fix it. John was very casual about women until Bold Jane Downey, "no bigger than a cat", fell for him. Lately they've been "keeping company", though the other women wonder how Jane can survive tumbling in the blankets with a man big as a horse in more ways than one. John uses only a quarterstaff, surprisingly effective against a sword because the wood catches the blade. and John can knock a knight and horse into the next county. He breaks quarterstaves regularly over unlucky enemy heads. Just as well, for "he might's well throw his bow as aim it." John was the only Merry Man to follow Robin to the Crusades, simply because it never occurred to stay home. He endured storm and capture and torture without complaint or comment. If anything, Robin frets he can never repay John's loyalty. Yet John would never ask. He follows Robin because "Rob has vision and he does good deeds," and that's enough. Little
John appears in the earliest ballads. He might have been a local
hero elsewhere, with his own set of ballads, but if so, they're lost,
last I heard. John had gone adventuring on his own hook using the
name "Reynold Greenleaf". Another Merry Man of legend is Hard-Hitting Brand, who's considered huge - until Little John walks in. Art by Harry Bishop from Illustrated
Classics Robin Hood. |
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Red Tom is a carpenter and crofter (carves ornate chests). He was passing through Sherwood, stood up to Robin Hood, and joined the Merry Men on a whim. |
| Tom should have consulted his wife,
who walked out after a short while of "living in filth in
the forest". Tom is quiet and reliable, with a sense of humor. Polly is his daughter. Tom is so devoted that he risked his life to diptheria during the London plague- sucking out the contagion from Polly's throat with a straw. Both survived. Tom is "Red" for his red hair, not his clothes. He's tall, skinny, and strong. For some reason he hates Arthur A'Bland. Robin has to keep them apart. Red Tom was invented by Clayton Emery. Art by Victor G Ambrus from Robin Hood, His Life and Legend by Bernard Miles. |
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Polly
is Red Tom's daughter, red-haired like her father. Polly is a quiet and level-headed girl not given to silliness. |
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| She misses her absent mother, so is sometimes called Sad-Eyed
Polly by Robin, but she's devoted to her father. Polly proves valuable when she accompanies Robin, Marian, and Gilbert to Spain to rescue some kidnapped girls. In London, Polly was quick to take to "girly" clothes. She's not a tomboy by nature. Polly was created by Clayton Emery. Art © 1995 by Dennis Nolan from The Forest Wife by Theresa Tomlinson. |
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Katie,
often dubbed Snub-nose, is the band's tomboy. She idolizes Marian. |
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wandering Sherwood in a daze after her family was slaughtered,
Katie was taken in by the Greenwood gang. Marian is Katie's role model, though Marian would actually like to see the girl express some feminine traits too. Katie strives to fight harder, ride better, and strike faster than any boy, especially her arch-rival Tam Gamwell. At fourteen, Katie has conflicted thoughts about what boys are for, but so far suppresses them. With ten notches to her bow, Katie can hold her own. Katie was created by Clayton Emery. Art © 1998 by Dennis Nola from Child of the May by Theresa Tomlinson. |
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Allan A'Dale is the minstrel of legend, hopelessly in love with the fair Elaine, who's to be wed to an old man by her parents. |
| Robin Hood,
champion of any underdog, intervenes, stops the wedding, has
Tuck read the banns, and sees Allan and Elaine wed. They
make a fine addition to theGreenwood, for Allan knows over two
hundred songs and loves to share them. Too, he's Sherwood's schoolteacher and storyteller, handy on a cold winter night. Gilbert, never a deep thinker, considers Allan a coward for refusing to fight, though Allan demonstrates there are other ways to resolve conflicts. Gilbert must eat his words when Allan sacrifices his life to rescue a Sherwood child from under the hooves of murderous knights. For such a selfless act, the wood-god Herne blesses Allan's grave, and all the Greenwood, with more buttercups than anyone's ever seen. Fitting tribute for a gentle poet... Allan A'Dale first appears in the ballad "Robin and the Minstrel". Art by Nick Harris from Eyewitness Classics Robin Hood by Neil Philip. |
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The Fair Elaine is the love of
Allan A' Dale, and they were wed through the generous intervention
of Robin Hood's band. |
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| She bore Allan three children before
he was killed. Later, in London, she lost all three children
to plague. Fair and fragile, Elaine was despondent for
a long, long while. Red Tom finally took her to wife, and she settled into her new life with new children, though some say her spark died with Allan. Elaine was introduced in the ballad "Robin and the Minstrel". Elaine was a very common name in folk ballads and especially King Arthur tales: there might be multiple Elaines in a single epic. Art by Nick Harris from |
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Young Allan is your typical boy, wanting excitement and adventure. His father, the gentle Allan A'Dale, wants him to learn to read and sing. |
| Young Allan gets plenty of adventure as is, and is
not far off when his father is killed in a raid. Later,
inLondon, Young Allan serves as Robin Hood's squire at a tournament
joust, though he's told to stay off the field "no matter
what happens", as it's too dangerous a place for anyone,
let alone a kid. Allan's brief fling with adventure ends
with his life, another child victim of plague.
Young Allan was invented by Clayton Emery. Art by NC Wyeth from Robin Hood by Paul Creswick. |
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Will Stutley was
the steward of Locksley Hall, and so became Robin's mentor and
best friend as he grew up. Besides Marian, Will is the only man who can order Robin around. |
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| Will had been a sergeant when King
Henry invaded Wales. There Will saw first hand how fur-clad barefoot
rebels wielding six-foot bows could kill a knight and horse with
one arrow and then vanish into the hills. When's Robin home was lost, Will naturally followed Robin to the woods. Will is the only elder tied to Robin's childhood. In many ways, he's Robin's most loyal man. In other ways, he often treats Robin like a child, though he never reprimands him in public. Wills' bravery is legend. Faced with hanging in Nottingham, he offered to fight barehanded any number of guards. As Will grew older and stiffer, he came to spend more time near the fire, and Little John became Robin's right hand man. But Robin and Will both know he'll always be available as a mentor. Although Will seemed eternal, he succumbed to plague in London and was buried there in a unmarked grave far from Sherwood. Also called Will Stukely, the character appeared in the original ballads. One version made him Robin's right hand man until he grew older and Little John arrived. Art by Piero Cattaneo from The Legend of Robin Hood. |
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Will Scarlett
has no red hair, but often wears red clothes, the most
expensive. |
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| Will is Robin's cousin and in many ways his
opposite. Will is frivolous, fun-loving, and devil-may-care
- and the bane of his more sober cousin. But in many ways,
Will reminds "Rob" to lighten up and enjoy life. Will is a good swordsman and middling archer, but a master thief. He can pull a beetle from a child's ear or a throwing knife from a sleeve in an eyeblink. He knows dozens of scams and plies them all while living in London. Will's mother is Old Bess. His father was Giles Crookleg - interesting since the son gains a limp too - a cousin to Robin's father. Thus Marian is a distant cousin too. His wife was Mary (deceased). His son is Tam Gamwell. Also spelled Scarlet, Will first appeared
in the ballad Modified art by Gerry Embleton from Robin Hood by Michael Bishop. |
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| Tam Gamwell
is Will Scarlett's equally crazy son, and so too Robin's cousin. Tam will do anything for a lark or a dare and a chance to boast. Robin repeatedly chides his cousin, "What kind of a life is it for a boy, taking him whoring and housebreaking and pocket-picking?" Will soberly replies, "It's a father's responsibility to see his son learns a trade." Tam's mother, Mary, is dead. According to "Da", she was as wild as Will. Old Bess is Tam's grandmother. Clayton Emery created Tam to be a foil to Will's craziness. Modified art by Gerry Embleton from Robin Hood by Michael Bishop. |
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Gilbert of the White Hand is a knight from Northumberland, an area constantly ravaged
by Scottish and Viking raids. Gilbert is allegedly English, but goes suspiciously berserk in battle, making one wonder if he has Viking blood himself. Tall, blonde, knotty-armed, and damned near unkillable, Gilbert received the accolade on the battlefields around Acre. He takes Crusading seriously and lives to fight evil.From a long spell of slavery in the Holy Land, he can speak several languages and knows some (medically correct) healing - a strange talent for such a savage fighter. Gilbert is the lover of Cedwyn, who couldn't be more his opposite. Gilbert has a thick Northern accent that becomes incomprehensible when he's excited - not that he's anywhere near during a battle: he's always at the forefront. Gilbert of the White Hand is listed in
the original ballads. Some explain his hands were soft
and white as a girl's. My version has Gilbert with one
white and useless hand, stripped to three fingers and scar tissue,
a relic of a Viking raid. Thus Gilbert swings his Milanese
sword left-handed, confounding his enemies. He doesn't even need a sword.
Lounging in a bath in London, he was jumped by three knights with
swords. Gilbert killed the first one with a poker, grabbed a
sword, and killed the other two - naked. Art by Frank Emery, colors by Liz LaValley. |
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Cedwyn the Welsh Witch was daughter to a famous witch. So famous
that, when her mother died, Cedwyn carried on alone in her lonely
fen. |
| When knights came to forcibly "sleep with"
the witch to become immune to harm, Robin Hood tried to intervene,
only to find that all three knights had died very horribly.
(See BEASTS.) Rattled, Robin nonethless extended an offer
to join their band, figuring Sherwood needed a sorceress on their
side. Disgusted with unfriendly locals, Cedwyn went along
- and fell head over heels with Gilbert of the White Hand at
first sight. Cedwyn is short and plain, with lank hair,
and an eyetooth missing from the brawl with the knights.
But Gilbert (himself an outcast) treats her like a queen.
Others stay shy, which suits the witch. Her name is variously
pronounced "Ked-win" or "Seth-win".
Clayton Emery created Cedwyn and put her from Wales, famous for witches such as Rhiannon. Art by Ivan Bilibin from Stories: Vasilisa the Beautiful. |
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Much the Miller's Son is son to a miller. An "idiot"
(now we'd know it's Downs Syndrome), he performed poorly in the
mill because he was frightened of the "engine".
Thus he made plodding deliveries through Sherwood... |
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| ... where, detained by Robin's
outlaws as a jest, Much managed to remember one trick, which
was to hurl flour in their faces and then lay on with a cudgel.
Robin was so impressed - and so sorry for the mistreated Much
- that he adopted him. The jest saved his life later, for when Robin was knocked down by Sheriff's men, Much drove them off with a wagon tongue despite two crossbow quarrels in his gut. He survived, and Robin repaid the favor by keeping Much close. His name derives from being stooped, "not much there", and from his father's prediction he'd "not amount to much". Just by being loyal, Much has proved the world wrong. Much the Miller's Son was introduced in the ballad "Robin and the Miller". The idea he was an idiot came from TH White's THE SWORD IN THE STONE. Art by Jay Hyde Barnum from Adventures of Robin Hood by Eleanor Graham Vance. |
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Of Hard Hitting Brand I know only that he was an original member of the outlaw band before Robin Hood joined. |
| Brand is often mistaken for Little John until people meet the
real thing. He's loyal and hearty and happy, and only around in early adventures, so presumably got killed. Merry Men hardly ever quit or retire from the band. Usually they die. Hard Hitting Brand appears in early ballads. Art by Piero Cattaneo from The Legend of Robin Hood. |
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George O'Green
too was an original Sherwood outlaw before Robin Hood joined. |
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George O'Green appears in early
ballads. He may actually be a hero in his own right, in his own
ballads. I'll have to check. Art by Piero Cattaneo from The Legend of Robin Hood. |
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And to see what the Merry Men wore, view the rare and dazzling plates of English Medieval Clothing taken from the 1906 book by Dion Clayton Calthrop. |
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