DEAR Jos,— Robin Hood was a real man. The stories about him are very old. They were written many, many years ago by men whose names have been forgotten. The old letters in which they were printed are very difficult to read, but now, in this little book, you will find the stories easy both to read and to understand. The poetry is in the same words as it was in those old books.

Robin Hood lived in times very different from ours. In the first chapter of this book I have told about those times, and how and why Robin came to live in the Green Wood, and to have all his wonderful adventures.

If you do not care about the ‘how and why,’ you must begin the book at its second chapter, but I hope you will begin at the beginning, for the more you know about brave Robin, the more you will love and admire him.—Your loving Aunt,

H. E. MARSHALL.

Author's introduction