Ancestors of the forest

Ancestors of the forest

The legend of Robin Hood has been known for centuries….

But there is a story untold…

Until today!

   Rhoda and her brother Harvey ran as fast as their feet could carry them away from the flames! There town was on fire and they were fleeing to the woods for safety! Everything that they had loved and cherished had been destroyed! Their parents were dead, and the only place they could go for safety was Sherwood forest!

~

5 YEARS LATER…..

  Rhoda’s eyes were glued to the buck only a few feet in front of her, she crept up silently to get a little closer. Raising her bow she pulled back and let go! The arrow flew through the air lodging in the buck’s forehead!

“Bulls eye!” said Harvey standing next to his older sister, “you have perfect aim!”

“Thanks” said Rhoda.

 Rhoda and Harvey cut as much meat off the buck as they could carry and headed to their hide-out. They had been living in the woods for 5 years learning to live in nature and survive the dangers of the forest.

  When they reached their hide-out, Rhoda started to prepare the meat for dinner. When she was finally done, they headed up to their favorite seat- a ledge above an enormous water-fall! When they sat down they could hear the water roaring down into the stream, crashing against the rocks below. After a few moments of silence, they heard a faint cry in the distance.

“Did you hear that?” Rhoda asked Harvey.

“Ya, what was it?”

“I don’t know! Let’s go check it out, but be careful!” said Rhoda.

   They headed down the steep ledge towards the bottom of the falls where the sound became louder. When they reached the end, they could hear loud crying.

 “It sounds like a baby!” whispered Harvey.

  Looking around they spotted a basket at the edge of the stream.

“Harvey, look!” cried Rhoda.

Sitting in the basket was a beautiful baby boy, crying.

“What on earth!” exclaimed Harvey.

 Rhoda picked the baby up out of the basket.

“The poor thing! Who could ever leave their baby alone? The poor thing is wet and freezing, we must take him back to the hide-out!” said Rhoda.

  They took the baby home and wrapped him in rags.

“We must find out who left him!” exclaimed Rhoda.

“Why?” asked Harvey, “they won’t want him, they left him because they didn’t!”

“Nobody could be so heartless!” gasped Rhoda, “I will put out a notice in town saying that I found a baby and see if anybody responds!”

“And what if they don’t?” said Harvey, “are we going to keep him?”

“We will talk about that when the time comes, but as of now, we are keeping him until somebody replies to that notice!”

~

Farefold castle- 9 miles away.

 “My majesty, I have a message for you!” said the messenger. He had urgent news for Queen Brianna.

“Well what is it? It better be something important!” said Brianna in an aggravated tone.

“It is news about the baby, maam” said the messenger.

“What news?” asked Brianna, “he is sup post to be gone-dead!”

“Well that is the problem,” said the messenger, “I just found this in town, I thought you might want to see it!”

“Give it to me!” snapped Brianna.

The messenger passed this notice to the queen:

                           Baby boy found

If you know who this baby is please leave a note at the entrance of Sherwood forest under the rotting tree hump!

   “What? No! No! No!” screamed Brianna, “this cannot be true! He is sub post to be dead! No one must know of his existence! I am the heir to the throne, I say, I am!”

   Brianna was thinking in her mind all she had gone through to be queen- her brother and his wife had died leaving herself to the throne, but just a few months previous she found out that her brother’s wife had had a child- the rightful heir to the throne. But Brianna could not let anyone else know that this child was born and still living, she ordered one of her troops to get rid of the baby and now he was found! How could this happen? The baby had to die! She now needed to send a group of guards to kill the baby once and for all!

                 ~      

  “I got a response!” yelled Harvey, “there was a letter in the tree hump!”

“Let me see!” said Rhoda.

  The letter read:
           

We know who the baby boy is. Meet us tomorrow at the bottom of the water-fall at noon. Bring the baby.

      “There is something strange about this,” said Rhoda, “they did not leave a name or anything.”

“Well… we are still going to meet them though right?” asked Harvey.

“I guess we should, but I’m still a little curious about who these people are! It is going to be hard to let Robin go now, I have really begun to love him!” said Rhoda.”

“Robin? You named the baby?”

“Yes! I thought robin was a nice name!”

“Hump!” snorted Harvey, “you are getting too attached!”

                                     ~

 The next day Rhoda and Harvey took robin down to the bottom of the water-fall to meet the mysterious persons who left the letter. When they reached the bottom, everything was silent and still.

“Hello!” hollered Rhoda, “is anybody there?”

 A man in a black cape appeared from behind a tree.

“I am here!” the man said in a mean, stern voice, “know please pass over the baby!”
Rhoda heard movement in the forest. as she looked closely she could see the shadows of three more cloaked men in the forest.

“Something is going on here,” whispered Rhoda to Harvey.

“Like what?” said Harvey.

“There are more men in the woods!” said Rhoda, “I’m glad I brought my bow, we might be in danger!”

“What are you whispering?” yelled the man in the cloak.

“Nothing of your concern,” said Rhoda, “why do you want the baby? Who is he?”

The man chuckled.

“I am surprised you do not know yet,” said the man, “he is the rightful heir to the throne!

“What?” gasped Harvey, “but the queen Brianna just took over the throne because of her brother’s death!”

The man laughed again, “The baby you are now holding is her brother’s son! Queen Brianna has ordered his execution, but you are not sub post to know that, so now we are going to kill you along with the baby!”
   With that an arrow came flying through the woods missing Rhoda by a fraction of an inch.

“Run!” shouted Rhoda.

Rhoda and Harvey went running into the woods with robin in Rhoda’s arms.

Arrows were zooming all over the forest in all directions.

Pausing for a mere second, Rhoda turned around and shot an arrow into the chest of one of the four cloaked men. The chase lasted for many minutes until Rhoda and Harvey did a sharp turn into a ditch, they knew the land well and that was an advantage, but they were greatly outnumbered.

 Harvey and Rhoda hid in the ditch for a few moments, when all of the sudden baby robin started crying.

“Shhh!” cried Rhoda, “you must keep quite!”

Rhoda turned to her brother.

   “Harvey, we have to keep robin safe! We must take him to a village and give him to a family who does not know who he really is! He will be safe if he does not know his true identity!”

With that Rhoda took the baby in her hands and jumped out of the ditch.

“Hurry! They will hear robin crying, we must get out of the forest!

“Not so fast little lady!”

Rhoda whipped around. standing there was the man in the cape!

“Hand me over the baby!” said the man.

“Never!” Rhoda said in a strong firm voice, and then she went running.

 The man raised his bow and the arrow went flying towards the baby in Rhoda’s arms!

“No!” screamed Harvey.

Harvey took his bow and shot the man in the heart but it was too late. Rhoda stood still on the ground,  but robin was safe.

Harvey went running to his sister.

“No! No! No!” he screamed.

 “get- th-e bab-y t-o saf-ety” Rhoda gasped out and then she closed her eyes and died.

~

Harvey found a little village a few miles away. He gave robin to a kind farming family in a little cottage.

“Please teach him how to hunt!”  Harvey had told the family so that if robin was ever in danger when he grew up that he would be safe! And that little baby became known as:
              Robin Hood