What Do You Know About The Legendary Robin Hood?

It is not often that we make a hero of a robber, but Robin Hood somehow seems to be different. Everybody knows it is wrong to steal, yet Robin Hood is admired. The reason for this, of course, is that he stole from the rich and gave to the poor Did Robin Hood ever actually exist?
We know that he was a favorite figure in the ballads and stories of England in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He was supposed to have lived in the twelfth century. In a Latin history which appeared in the year 1521, this is what was written about Robin Hood:
"About the time of Richard I, Robin Hood and Little John, the most famous of robbers, were lurking in the woods and stealing only from rich men; they killed none except those who resisted them or came to attack them. Robin kept 100 archers on the proceeds of these robberies, well trained for fighting, and not even 400 men dared to come against them.
"All England sings of the deeds of this Robin; he would not allow any woman to be hurt, nor did he ever take the goods from the poor; indeed he kept them richly supplied with the goods he stole from the abbots."
One can see how such a character must have captured the imagination of the people of that period, because they loved chivalry and archery. Robin pleased them and they built around his name one legend after another. They made him a great sportsman, a wonderful archer, and a lover of the green woods where he lived.
There are many theories about Robin Hood. One of these suggests that he was a Saxon, and among the last of those who held out against the Normans when they conquered England. It seems certain that a Robin Hood really did exist. But it is also pretty certain that many of the stories that existed in other legends came to be told about Robin Hood

Robin Hood was a hero of medieval England who led an outlaw band called the Merry Men in brave forest adventures. The Merry Men fought men in power and rob the rich of their valuables to give them to the poor. The adventures of Robin Hood have been part of stories, poems, ballads, and motion pictures for more than 600 years now. The stories about Robin laud his courage, generosity, skill in archery, and comic flair. In some stories he is presented as a simple highway robber trying to avoid capture, while sometimes he is presented as a man who is wrongfully denied his noble title. He is always ready to fight and steal from his enemies, but he always shows sympathy for the poor and protects women and children.

Although Robin fights rich landowners, church leaders, and government officials, he accords respects to the ruling king, who in most stories is Richard I. Often, the king disguises himself and joins Robin Hood's gang in order to capture him but discovers Robin's praiseworthy ways and pardons him. In many stories, Robin falls in love with a young woman, Maid Marian. The sheriff of Nottingham, a greedy law officer, is Robin's most formidable opponent.

A number of leading authors wrote about Robin Hood. Among them were Sir Walter Scott and John Keats in the 18th and 19th centuries.