14. The Rescue

The townspeople had gathered outside the Sheriff’s house to watch the fate of poor Scathelok and Will Stutely, the poacher. Scathelok had been clapped in the stocks, but Stutely lay sewn up in the skin of the deer that he had dared to slay.

There was a murmur from the crowd when the Sheriff appeared, gazing down with satisfaction as the foresters moved about, busily preparing the torture.

“Hoist him up!” He ordered.

The foresters heaved on a rope that hauled up Will Stutely until he was swaying to and fro. There was a growl of disgust from the crowd which was quickly stifled. Two foresters then carried a burning brazier and set it below poor Will Stutely’s head. The Sheriff then watched with a evil smile as the stinging smoke irritated the poachers eyes and throat.

“Let this be a warning to evildoers that would flaunt our Midland laws! Begin!”

People began to scatter wildly as five horseman began to ride around the square, each striking in turn the hanging Stutely with their quarterstaffs.

“Shame!” Cried Scathelok desperately trying to see from the stocks, what was going on. But he was struck across the face by a forester and slumped down unconscious. This brought howls of protest from the local people.

But help was at hand. At the rear of the crowd a group of beggars and a palmer crouched down behind the deserted booths and waited for the horseman.

With Will Scarlet, Hawke, Cobly and Alfred, Robin rushed into the path of an encircling horseman and heaved him out of the saddle. Moments later the outlaw had rode into the square, whilst two more horseman were being unsaddled.

Merrie Christmas

I would like to wish all my readers a very merrie Christmas and I look forward to hearing from some of you in the new year!

This is how Robin, Marian and the outlaws might have enjoyed themselves at Christmas, taken from the ballad Robin Hood And Maid Marian :

A stately banquet they had full soon,

All in a shaded bower,

Where venison sweet they had to eat,

And were merrie that present hour.

Great flagons of wine were set on the board,

And merrily they drunk round

Their boules of sack, to strengthen the back,

Whilst their knees did touch the ground.

First Robin Hood began a health

To Marain his only dear,

And his yeoman all, both comly and tall,

Did quickly bring up the rear.

For in a brave vente* they tost off the bouls,

Whilst thus they did remain,

And every cup, as they drunk up,

They filled with speed again.

At last they ended their merriment,

And went to walk in the wood,

Where Little John and Maid Marian

Attended on bold Robin Hood.

In solid content together they liv’d,

With all their yeoman gay;

They liv’d by their hands, without any lands,

And so they did many a day.

But now to conclude, an end I will make

In time, as I think it good,

For the people that dwell in the North can tell

Of Marian and bold Robin Hood.

* brave vente: merry vein.

CHEERS!

Whistling Arrows?

The use of whistling arrows, by Robin and his band of outlaws in Disney’s Story of Robin Hood, is a unique addition to the legend by Lawrence Edward Watkin. But not as far fetched as some might think.

In fact, although now hardly ever used, whistling arrows were invented probably by the Nomads of Central Asia around 1,500 years ago. They used the whistling arrows to enliven their celebration of bumper harvests and major festivals. The earliest literary Chinese reference to such an arrow is in the Historical Annals of Sima Quian and it was Miedun who made whistling arrows and drilled his troops in their use. He ordered that:

when the whistling arrow is fired, anyone who does not obey the person who fired it will be executed...

Arrow whistles and whistling arrows are in fact two separate objects and have separate uses. A whistling arrow has a sharp point and can be a lethal projectile. An arrow whistle has a whistle but no sharp point and is used mainly for signalling and can be made of bronze, iron, wood, bone or horn.

Mongolians often used arrow whistles during hunting, after they discovered that the sound of the arrow flying above the animal’s head, made it stop, giving time to loose a second conventional arrow for the kill.

But apart from hunting, the whistling arrow was primarily used for signalling and sending messages during battle, particularly amongst the Japanese, who would often tie small notes (called Ya-Burne) around the shaft of the arrow as it whined through the air. This sound that the whistling arrow made, was also used against the opposition as a form of psychological warfare during battle and the Japanese often would have their massed ranks of archers send off hundreds of whistling arrows, filling the sky with an eerie, threatening noise above the heads of the enemy. In Samurai times such whistling arrows were fired to signify the beginning of a battle. In Shinto archery rituals, whistling arrows are used to call upon the attention of the gods.

Whistling arrows were used in medieval Europe, although details of this are rather slim. But it is known that they were combined with barbed arrows during battle and targeted at the charging horses to send the animals into panic and confusion. Therefore disrupting the advancing knights.

© Clement of the Glen

Michael Hordern

Michael Murrey Hordern is one of the many delightfully talented actors that appeared in Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men. He was born on 3rd October 1911 at Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire in England, the son of Captain Edward Joseph Calverly Hordern of the Royal Indian Navy, and his wife Margaret Emily Murray. It was during his education at Brighton College that he developed a passion for acting, but his early years were spent as a schoolteacher and later as a travelling salesman, acting only in his spare time.

His first professional engagement on the stage came with the part of Ludovico in a production of Othello in 1937 at the Peoples Palace in East London. He later joined the repertory company of the Little Theatre in Bristol, where he met his future wife Grace Evelyn Mortimer. They were married in 1943 and later had one daughter, Joanna.

Hordern soon began to get bit parts in films, including a small part in The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938 with Errol Flynn, his first official movie debut came in Carol Reed’s Girl in the News a year later.

With the outbreak of WWII, his acting career was suspended as he served in the Royal Navy reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander RNVR. But it soon resumed after the war as he continued to find work in all media. His remarkably smooth resonant voice and rather mournful face was utilized in in nearly twenty productions of the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, Stratford, at the Old Vic and West End. Two of his Shakespearean roles in particular, King Lear and Prospero, it is said, could have been written for him!

His extensive movie career ( he appeared in over a hundred films and nearly as many TV performances) include playing Marley’s Ghost with Alistair Sim in A Christmas Carol in 1951, Scathelok in Disney’s Story of Robin Hood in 1952 and Desmosthenes in Alexander the Great in 1956, Cicero in Cleopatra in 1963 and Baptista in Taming of the Shrew in 1967. His debut on American television came when his part in the Disney movie Dr Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh was shown on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Colour in 1964 on NBC.

In the 1967 movie ,The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Hordern played the role of a pathetic Kim Philby type and a year later he took the part of Thomas Boleyn in Ann Of A Thousand Days.

His distinctive, mellow voice was often used in narration, such as in the animated film Watership Down in 1978 and his work in radio resulted in his performance as Gandalf, in the BBC’s Lord of the Ring’s with Ian Holm and John Le Mesurier, becoming arguably the definitive version.

His finest film performance came in 1983 when he took on the role of a disillusioned journalist in England Made Me and this prolific, much loved character actor was finally rewarded with a knighthood for his services to theatre, that same year by Queen Elizabeth. Brighton College later named a room in his honour and had a bronze bust commissioned.

His versatility remained right up to his later years, appearing in movies, radio, theatre productions, television films and mini series and even an appearance in a pop video with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees in 1984!

In the final years of his remarkable life he moved to Dartmoor to enjoy his favourite hobby, fly fishing and became the narrator of the popular Children’s Television series Paddington Bear.

In 1993 he published his autobiography A World Elsewhere. He died in Oxford on May 2nd 1995 of kidney disease.

© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

A Hold-Up At Robin's Camp

(Walt Disney with Ken Annakin on the set of Robin Hood)


After ten weeks of shooting The Story of Robin Hood, the film crew were sitting around, one day, waiting for the Special Effects men to fix four whistling arrows onto wires ( to make them fly into Robin’s camp) and disgruntled at the fact that the pay cheques had been delayed. When all of a sudden, the lowest assistant camera man, John Alcott (who later won an Oscar for his photography on Greystoke) began to parody a phrase that had just been used in a scene by Anthony Forwood as Will Scarlet:

Off with your kirtles, and on with your rags

Robin’s gone up to the office to sort out a breach,

And teach those Yankee bags

They must pay up or get out of reach!

The whole crew roared with laughter and began to chant the verse in unison. At that very moment Walt Disney, who had been holidaying in England with his family, walked into the studio completely unannounced with a very puzzled look on his face. He headed straight for the director, Ken Annakin and asked, “Something wrong? Why aren’t you shooting?”

Completely stunned, Annakin rather nervously explained the situation and held his breath while Disney turned away and thought carefully. Then suddenly he broke into a wide grin, put his hand to his mouth and yelled out, “Okay, fellas, I’ll go rob the rich and pay the poor. But for Pete’s sake, keep this show rolling. I’d like to come back to the UK with another one next year!”

To Annakin’s relief, Disney then moved on to see the latest rushes with his favourite art director, Carmen Dillon.

© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

13. The Whistling Arrow

As soon as the Sheriff and his foresters had gone, the Palmer stepped grim faced out of the shadows. The Palmer was Robin Hood. He reached inside a hollow tree and took out a longbow and a quiver filled with arrows. The arrows were bright red and curiously made. Below the steel tip, the round head of the arrow was pierced with holes. Robin fitted one of these specially made arrows to his bow and fired it into the air. As the arrow gathered speed, the air rushing through the holes made an eerie shrill.

Deeper in the forest one of Robin’s men gazed up attentively as the red arrow screamed swiftly downwards. He quickly pulled it out of the ground and placing it on his bow, fired it towards the outlaws camp.

The arrows arrival sent the outlaws running from every corner of the camp. Will Scarlet pulled it out and turned to the band of men and said, “off with your kirtles and on with your rags, there’s a need for beggar men in Nottingham Square.”

The Whistling Arrow Arrives