"You don't know what this is for," said the big fellow.
"It looks like a little quarter-staff," said young Robin, "like all
the men have."
"Well done. Guessed it first time. Now guess who it is for?"
"Me," said the boy promptly. And so it was, and what was more,
Little John, in the days which followed, taught him how to handle
it so as to give blows and guard himself, till the little fellow
became as clever and active as could be, making the men roar with
laughter when in a bout he managed to strike so quickly that his
staff struck leg or arm before his opponent could guard.
"Why, you're getting quite a forester, Robin," said the captain,
smiling, "and what with your skill with bow and quarter-staff
you'll soon be able to hold your own."
Robin Hood's words were put to the proof in autumn, for one day
when the acorns had swollen to such a size that they could no
longer sit in their cups, and came rattling down from the sunny
side of the great oak-trees, young Robin was having a glorious
ramble. He had filled his satchel with brown hazel nuts, had a
good feast of blackberries, and stained his fingers. He had had a
long talk to a tame fawn which knew him and came when he whistled,
and tempted a couple of squirrels down with some very brown nuts,
laying them upon the bark of a fallen tree, and then drawing back a
few yards, with the result that the bushy-tailed little animals
crept softly down, nearer and nearer, ending by making a rush,
seizing the nuts, and darting back to the security of a high branch
of a tree.
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