Robin wondered who the knight could be, but he did not stop him as he had other business that morning.

He was dressed all in dull grey. His head hung down, and he moved his feet as if they were made of lead. So sad was he that he did not see Little John and Much until they were close upon him. Then he tried to draw his bow and arrows to shoot at them, but they were too quick for him. Seizing him by the arms they led him before Robin Hood, who was sitting under his great oak-tree.

As they walked along they met the very knight that Robin had seen the day before. But how different he looked! It was difficult to believe that he was the same man.

One day when Robin was walking through the wood, he met a happy young knight. The knight was dressed in scarlet silk, and wore a hat with feathers. He held his head high and walked with a light and pleasant step. As he walked he sang a merry song.

The next day Little John and Much, the tallest and the shortest of Robin Hood's band, went for a walk. It was very funny to see these two together. Little John was seven feet high and very straight and strong. Much was scarcely five and very broad and fat.

He was no longer wearing the scarlet clothes. He sighed with every step he walked.

Robin rose politely, bowed to him, and welcomed him to the Green Wood. Then still very politely (for being a real earl, Robin was always very polite to people, though he did rob them) he asked if the stranger had any money to spare for Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

When Robin heard that the knight was so poor, he was very sorry for him, and asked him to sit down and tell him how that was, and why he was so sad. So with many a sigh the poor young man told his tale.

"My name is Allan-a-Dale," he said. "Seven years ago I fell in love with the most beautiful lady in all the world. She loved me too and we were very happy. But her father was very angry. I was poor, and he said we were too young to marry. He promised, however, that if we would wait seven years and a day we should then be married. The seven years are over, and yesterday should have been our wedding day. I went to ask the girl to marry me. But the old knight would scarcely speak to me. He said his daughter was not for such a poor man as I. Tomorrow she is to be married to another. He is old and ugly, but he has a great deal of money. So I have lost my love, and my heart is broken."

"I have no money," the young man said, "but five shillings, and a ring, which I have kept, this seven long years, to have at my wedding."

"No," said Robin, "do not feel so sad. A girl who changes her mind in this way is not worth so much sorrow."

Then poor Allan-a-Dale dropped his head in his hands and cried aloud.

"Then what will you give to me," said Robin Hood, "in ready gold or silver, to help you to get you true love again, and deliver her to you?"

Robin was very glad when he heard that. He patted Allan on the shoulder and told him to cheer up. "Tomorrow is your wedding day," he said. Then he asked how far it was to the church where this wedding was to take place. Allan told him it was to be at Dale Abbey, not much more than five miles distant.

But Allan-a-Dale shook his head. "Alas!" he sighed, "she loves me still. It is the old knight, her father, who forces her to do this thing."

Very early the next morning Robin Hood rose. He dressed himself like an old harper, and taking a harp, set off for Dale Abbey. He left orders with Little John that he was to follow with twenty-four good men all dressed in Lincoln green. Also he was to bring with him Friar Tuck and Allan-a-dale.

"Why," said Allan, "I have no gold. But if you bring my true love back to me, I swear to serve you faithfully forever. I cannot shoot so far or so straight as your good men, but I can make and sing sweet songs and play upon the harp."

"Why," replied Robin, "I am a harper. Hearing there was to be a great wedding today, I have come to see it. Afterwards I can make a song about it."

"What do you want to do here, my good man?" said the Bishop.

"That is well," said the Bishop, "I love the sound of the harp and you can play some sweet music to us."

"I should like to see the bride and bridegroom first, before I play any music," replied Robin. Then he went into the church, and sat down behind a big pillar not far from the altar.

When Robin Hood arrived at the door of the Abbey, he met the Bishop of Hereford, all dressed in his fine robes and all ready to marry poor Lady Christabel to the old knight.

Soon the wedding guests began to arrive. There were a great many lovely ladies in beautiful dresses. They came in, dressed in silk, nodding and smiling to each other. Robin watched them greeting and whispering to each other. Sometimes he could hear what they said.

"And she loves someone else, I hear."

"Poor girl," said one, "so young and pretty."

"And he so old and ugly."

"Yes, Allan-a-Dale."

"What! The handsome young man who sings so beautifully?"

"Oh, he is too poor."

"Then why does he not carry her off?"

"Oh, what a pity!"

Robin was glad. From all he heard, he learned that everyone in the church was sorry for poor Christabel.

At last the bridegroom came. Silence fell upon the church as he entered. Nothing was heard except the ring of his gold-headed cane on the floor, as he came slowly up the passageway. So old and ugly he was. Older and uglier even than Robin had expected. He was dressed in a suit of white silk which helped to make him look more aged and thin.

Suddenly there was a little noise at the great west door. All heads turned. The bride had arrived. A sigh of admiration passed through the crowd.

She was so beautiful. With slow and fine steps she came, leaning on her father's arm. Her face was sad, her eyes looking down. Her face was pale. She came dressed in shining white silk. Round her white throat and in her golden hair, wonderful pearls shone in the dim light. If the bridegroom was more ugly than Robin had expected, the bride was far more beautiful. Behind her came the little choir boys, dressed in red and white, singing a sweet wedding song.

At that moment Robin jumped from behind the pillar and stood beside the bride.

"Stop!" he cried, "I do not like this wedding. The bridegroom is too old and ugly for such a lovely bride."

The ladies screamed, and at once the whole church was in disorder.

"Who are you? Why do you disturbs the peace of our holy service?" asked the Bishop.

They reached the front, and the Bishop opened his book to begin the service.

"I am Robin Hood," replied he, throwing off his disguise, and putting his horn to his lips.

"Now," said Robin, "since we have all come to church, it is a pity there should be no wedding. Let the lady choose of all these fine men which she will have."

Then twenty-four bowmen ran along over the grassland, all in a row. The first man was Allan-a-Dale. And when they came to the churchyard, Allan-a-Dale gave Robin his bow.

Lady Christabel's face was no longer pale, but pretty pink. She raised her eyes and saw that Allan-a-Dale was standing beside her. She put out her hand shyly and slipped it into his. He held it and bent to kiss it tenderly. Then her cheeks became red. She was now like a queen with head high, and shining, happy eyes.

When they heard that, everyone stopped screaming, and pressed forward, trying to catch sight of the wonderful man of whom they had heard so much.

"Now," said Robin, "the lady has chosen. We can have the wedding. Sir Bishop, do your duty."

"If you will not, we must get someone else," said Robin. "Come along, Friar Tuck."

"No, but I will not," said the Bishop. "It is the law that everyone must be asked in church three times before they can be married. Therefore I will not."

So Friar Tuck put on the Bishop's fine gown and took his big book, and everyone laughed as he stepped to the front, he looked so fat and cheerful.

He asked them seven times in the church, in case three times should not be enough

Then when he had finished asking them seven times, he told the people seriously that they really must not laugh any more, that it was not at all the proper thing to do in church. But the people were all so glad for Christabel they really could not help it.

Then he began the marriage service.

Christabel's father would have liked to cry out and stop the wedding, but he could not. Two of Robin's men held him tight and kept their hands over his mouth so that he could not make a sound. No one else in all the church wanted to stop it except the Bishop and the old knight. They were both so angry that they could not speak. Besides they were both so old and weak that they could do nothing.

So Christabel and Allan-a-Dale were married and went to live with Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest.

The wedding was long talked about. The people who were there said it was the prettiest and the merriest wedding they had ever seen. And to this day, if you go to Derbyshire, you can still see the ruins of the great abbey in which it took place.