Robin had had a very short way with these marauding bands of robbers, who made no distinction between rich and poor, but would soon rob a poor serf of his last piece of salted pork or bag of meal as a rich priest of his purse of gold. Whenever Robin learned of the hiding place of a band such as these, he would go there secretly with his men and surprise them before they could lay hand to weapon. Then, while everyone was covered by a yard long arrow he would say;
‘I am Robin Hood, whom ye know, and I give ye this choice. Cease your evil pilfering’s, wherein ye respect neither the poor nor the needy, and join my band and take our oath or fight with me to the death and put the choice to the ordeal by combat.’
Henry Gilbert, “Robin Hood”, 1912
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