Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar earlier version, Robin Hood good-humoredly refuses further combat; in both earlier and later versions Robin invites him to join the band. Howard Pyle used this tale in his "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" as part of the tale of Alan-a-Dale: Robin needed a priest who would perform the wedding ceremony in defiance of authority, and Will Scarlet proposed Friar Tuck. The Percy Folio version of the ballad begins with the stanza: Robert Graves in his "English and Scottish Ballads" used this stanza to support his argument for pagan survivals in the Robin Hood legend, and for the popular survival
Robin Hood: Men in Tights to help regain his father's land and oust Prince John from the throne. On his quest, Robin also attracts the attention of Maid Marian of Bagelle, who wants to find the man who has the key to her heart and Everlast chastity belt. They are also joined by Rabbi Tuckman, who shares with them his sacramental wine and bargain circumcisions. While Robin is training his band of tights-clad Merry Men, the spoonerism-spouting Sheriff of Rottingham hires the Mafioso Don Giovanni to assassinate Robin at the Spring Festival. Maid Marian hears of the evil plot, and sneaks out of her castle