The Knight and the Loan in A Gest of Robyn Hode
A record in The Hawthorn Archive, preserving folklore with its place, type and source context attached.
One of the substantial narrative strands in A Gest of Robyn Hode concerns a knight in financial difficulty. Robin’s treatment of the knight complicates the familiar image of the outlaw as someone who simply takes from the rich and gives to the poor.
The episode deals with debt, honour, generosity and the behaviour expected of people with power over others. It is especially useful when tracing how Robin Hood’s moral character was shaped in early storytelling, before later adaptations simplified or rearranged his adventures.
Evidence: early printed literary narrative. Source trail: A Gest of Robyn Hode, surviving early editions; Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.