The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood first published by Scribner's in 1883, and met with immediate success, ushering in a new era of Robin Hood stories. It helped solidify the image of a heroic Robin Hood, which had begun in earlier works such as Walter Scott's 1819 novel "Ivanhoe". In Pyle's wake, Robin Hood has become a staunch philanthropist protecting innocents against increasingly aggressive villains. Along with the publication of the Child Ballads by Francis James Child, which included most of the surviving Robin Hood ballads, Pyle's novel helped increase the popularity of the Robin Hood legend in the United States. "The Merry Adventures" also had
Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar" is Child Ballad number 123, about Robin Hood. This ballad is one of those appearing in later and later versions, the earlier one appearing in damaged form in the Percy manuscript but, as with Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne the story also appears in May Day plays and there is good reason to think that it goes back at least to the fifteenth century. The outlaws have a good hunt. Robin Hood says there is no match for Little John within a hundred miles; Will Scadlock tells