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 and the Beggar their lives from the sheriff, but the Sheriff refuses to release the men, disregarding Robin's plea because he appears as a beggar. Just as the men are about to be hanged at the gallows, Robin blows his horn, summoning his hundred archers. They rescue the three through violence and return to the green wood, celebrating the yeomen's entrance into Robin Hood's band. ""Robin Hood and the Beggar, II"" is Child Ballad number 134. Robin Hood meets and demands money from a beggar. The beggar refuses, and Robin Hood goes to shoot him, but the beggar strikes a blow that breaks