Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 98

# Robin Hood: The Outlawed Earl; or, The Merry Men of the Greenwood

By Prof. Stewart Gildersleeve, this serialized adventure occupies this May 1879 issue of a Beadle and Adams weekly publication (Vol. IV, No. 98).

The narrative opens with Robin Fitzooth, Earl of Huntington, encountering Will Scarlet in Sherwood Forest. After an extended combat with quarter-staffs—described in technical detail—Scarlet, impressed by Robin's mastery, introduces himself and pledges service. Scarlet then warns Robin that he has been declared an outlaw and that armed men wait to capture him. Despite the odds, Robin resolves to fight rather than flee.

The second chapter shifts to Fountain Abbey, where Abbot Gilbert examines financial documents revealing the Earl owes him one thousand marks. His steward, Roger Warman, suggests outlawry as the solution, since the common people protect Robin. The abbot can obtain an outlaw decree from Prince John's Chancellor. The narrative establishes the religious antagonist and mechanism of Robin's persecution as the serial continues.