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THE LEGEND of ROBIN HOOD
MERRY MAN: We’ll get them back or we’ll die trying. That’s not true, I don’t want to die. I don’t know how things got so carried away. We never got into any real trouble before. There was a scare or two, but nobody ever got killed that’s for certain. Sorry. Excepting your father. I tell you that I knew him? Terrible thing what happened. I’d been pulling grain for him for about a year beforehand. He was nice, but he had a strong head about the King-this, and the government-that. Said they took his boy away. If I were him, I would have just paid the taxes! Well, he believed in something, and he got dead. Will Scarlet, I suppose he believes in something, and he’s about to get dead. Elena too, Little John, they’re all fighting for their land or for the people or something. You know why I’m here? It’s fun. Stealing and fighting and – you know how exciting pulling grain is? There’s no fun in it, and there’s no coin in it. This, this is fun. At least it was until people started dying.
ROBIN HOOD: A hero. It sounds as if my father only made things worse. The people he was helping have been routed out of their villages and chased into the forest. Are they better off now, stealing what they can to survive, than they were paying higher taxes?
He died hiding in a stable, throwing horseshoes at tax collectors. This is a great hero? What was he fighting for? This is the sort of situation that will slowly go away. If there are any more conflicts, the two sides will push themselves even farther away from each other. But if they just move back to their villages, and stop stealing from the Sheriff, then he won’t persecute them and everything will be fine. The only solution is to do nothing. I’m good at fighting. I’m not very good at doing nothing. I’ll be of no help here.
MARIAN/ARABLE: It’s true, isn’t it? I heard about it in the kitchen, and I laughed. It was so ridiculous an idea, that I laughed out loud. I came here to tell you about it, so you could laugh too. But it’s not a joke is it? You’re getting married. I’m sorry my family isn’t wealthy, I didn’t realize that was all you cared about! But you’re the Sheriff now, and you’re interested in protecting that. But what about me? Have you thought of that William? If you’re getting married, you won’t be able to protect me from him anymore! In fact you’ve put me in greater danger – if he’s mad at you, what’s to stop him from coming after me? You think you can watch him every second? His heart is black. He murdered a child. And you’ve opened the door for him to get me next. You’re worthless. You could marry the King himself and you’d still be worthless.
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