The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood new direction that influenced later writers, artists, and filmmakers through the next century. The plot follows Robin Hood as he becomes an outlaw after a conflict with foresters and through his many adventures and runs with the law. Each chapter tells a different tale of Robin as he recruits Merry Men, resists the authorities, and aids his fellow man. The popular stories of Little John defeating Robin in a fight with staffs, of Robin's besting at the hands of Friar Tuck, and of his collusion with Allan-a-Dale all appear. In the end, Robin and his men are pardoned by King
Robin Hood if he happens to be poor. As it happens the next traveller is not poor, but it seems in context that Robin Hood is stating a general policy. The first explicit statement to the effect that Robin Hood habitually robbed from the rich to give the poor can be found in John Stow's "Annales of England" (1592), about a century after the publication of the Gest. But from the beginning Robin Hood is on the side of the poor; the Gest quotes Robin Hood as instructing his men that when they rob: And in its final lines the Gest sums