“These are trying times, are they not?” asked the troll. “Well, the Lord helps those who help themselves…” he continued, very seriously, and then pulled open a small soft sack and laughed, “so help yourselves!”

The bag was filled with gold shillings, so many it looked like it might rip and pour gold out onto the road at any moment. Munday’s hand darted into the sack and pulled one out, and others around did the same. Stutely slapped the tops of some of their hands for being too greedy. He didn’t trust the troll man. He picked a coin and looked at it closely, and smelled it and tasted it. It didn’t much smell or taste like anything, and he was pretty sure real gold coins would smell and taste like something pretty amazing.

“Are you the one?” Munday asked.

“Am I the one?” the troll asked back, because trolls were full of puzzles and riddles.

“He means Robin Hood,” Stutely answered. “Are you Robin Hood?”

The troll looked confused. He was probably not used to being outwitted so quickly.

“You must mean Robin over there.” The troll indicated a man with short hair, and a hood hanging from the back of his neck. He didn’t look anything like the stories had made him out to be. He wasn’t nearly skinny enough to go running silently on tree branches, and Stutely laughed out loud when he saw that Robin Hood didn’t even have a beard at all. His pudgy beardless face smiled dopily, and the troll man introduced him.

“Ah yes, this is Robin Hood!” he said, loud, and then he and Robin Hood whispered to each other quietly and laughed.

“Yes, that’s me,” the unimpressive dope said when he got close enough.

“The things they say about you aren’t true, are they?” Stutely asked, but then Munday shoved him angrily.

“Of course they’re true, don’t be rude!”

“What do they say about me?” Robin Hood asked, pretending not to know. They must have heard about Stutely’s storytelling skills, since the others gathered to listen as well.

“Munday here says you walk around in the branches of the forest and jump down on rich folk and steal their jewelry. They say you snuck into Nottingham Castle and stole out of the Sheriff’s pocket itself.”

Munday giggled and clutched his fake gold coin. “This is the Sheriff’s personal money! And I’ve got it!” He laughed and doubled over, turning the coin around and around in his hand as if it were real.

The giant man leaned closer and asked, “Where’d you hear those stories?”

“All over, sir.” Munday bowed. “A lot of people come through this road, and every one of them has heard about you. Everyone knows Robin Hood and his men are stealing from the rich and giving back to the people!”