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WHO WAS ROBIN HOOD?
It is not often that we make a hero of a robber, but Robin Hood somehow seems to be different. Everybody knows it is wrong to steal, yet Robin Hood is admired. The reason for this, of course, is that he stole from the rich and gave to the poor.
1. Was Robin Hood a real man? We know that he was a favourite figure in the ballads and stories of England in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. We also know that according to these stories he lived in the twelfth century. In the year 1521, there appeared a Latin history which mentioned Robin Hood.
This is what it said: About the time of Richard I, Robin Hood and Little John, the most famous of robbers, were hiding in the woods and stealing only from rich men; they killed none except those who resisted them or came to attack them. Robin had 100 men — all skilled archers — well trained for fighting. They were so good that not even 400 men dared to come against them.
3. All England sings of the deeds of this Robin; he did allow any woman to be hurt, nor did he ever take goods from the poor; indeed he gave them a lot of goods he stole from the abbots.
4. Robin Hood definitely captured the imagination of the English people of that period, because he was a hero working for justice. Robin pleased them and they built around his name one legend after another. They made him a great sportsman, a wonderful archer, a loyal friend, and a lover of the green woods where he lived.
5. There are many theories about Robin Hood. One of these suggests that he was a Saxon, and among the last of those who held against the Normans when they conquered England. It seems certain that a man called Robin Hood really existed. But it is also quite clear that many of the stories about Robin Hood were made up by people.
0. Robin Hood is admired because _____
a. he was a robber.
b. everybody knows him.
c. He helped people who had no money.
d. He was different from others.
1. The Latin history mentioning Robin Hood was written in the _____
a. 12th century
b. century
c. 15th century
d. 16th century
2. Robin Hood and his men killed _____
a. people they didn’t like
b. only rich people
c. skilled archers
d. people fighting against them
3. Robin Hood didn’t let his men _____
a. offend women
b. steal from women
c. take the goods away from women
d. meet women and abbots
4. The English people of the Middle Ages made up stories
about Robin because _____
a. he could fight skillfully with a sword.
b. he was a great athlete
c. he wanted life to be fair
d. he was a great lover
5. We certainly know that Robin Hood was _____
a. a ballad character
b. a Saxon king
c. a real man
d. a Norman conqueror
Answers & Comments
1 - D
2 - D
3 - C
4 - C
5 - C or A (I'm not sure)