Robin Hood : Green lord of the wildwood

Foreword by Richard Carpenter.. Afterword by Cesca Potter.

Introduction - The green grove. 1 Who was Robin Hood? - Robin Hood and the ranger. 2 The green dancers - Hey jolly Robin. 3 The face in the leaves - The freeman's song. 4 The games of Robin Hood - The bold pedler and Robin Hood. 5 Maid Marian and the flower bride - Little John and the four beggers. 6 Mummers, the Morris and the merry men - Robin Hood's death and burial. 7 In the heart of the forest - The masque of the wildwood; The challenge of the Green Knight. Afterword - The Green Woman - Chesca Potter. Appendix 1 - Thke ballad history of Robin Hood. Appendix 2 - The Sloan MS 'Life of Robin Hood'

'This book shows that we have been looking in the wrong place for Robin Hood by seeking a real person among the dusty records of medieval history. Robin Hood is best sought under the open skies or in the depth of the Greenwood, where he has always been. He is present not only in the elusive figure of the Green Man--still to be seen peering down from the roofs of medieval churches--but also in the person of Robin Goodfellow, the native British trickster, whose merry pranks added significantly to the picture of Robin and the traditions of the faery people in Britain....Later...he reappears as a central figure in the Mumming plays and Morris dances....he is a semi-divine embodiment of the mysterious, all-pervading life-force of the land....'

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