Robin Hood and Allan-a-Dale (Campfire Story)

One day, as ROBIN HOOD walked through Sherwood Forest, he heard someone singing. It was a young man in a bright red cloak, strolling down the road with a harp, singing a happy love song at the top of his voice.

The next day, Robin saw the same young man on the same road. But now he wasn't singing. He was shuffling along, head down, sighing so hard the leaves shook.

'Friend,' said Robin, 'yesterday you were the happiest man in England. What's wrong?'

'My name is Allan-a-Dale,' said the young man, 'and I'm a minstrel. I love a girl named Ellen, and she loves me, and we were to be married. But her father has decided she must marry a rich old knight instead. A mean old man with gout and a gray beard down to his belt. And the wedding is tomorrow.'

'Tomorrow?' said Robin. 'Then we haven't any time to lose. Come with me.'

The next morning, the little church was full. The old knight stood at the altar in his finest clothes, scowling, leaning on his cane. Poor Ellen stood beside him, crying. And the bishop was just opening his book to begin, when a ragged harper wandered in at the back of the church.

'Who wants music for the wedding?' asked the harper.

'Get out!' snapped the knight.

'Oh, but this is not a proper wedding,' said the harper, and he threw back his ragged cloak. It was ROBIN HOOD, in his suit of Lincoln green! 'A bride ought to marry the man she loves.' And he put his horn to his lips. HORN!

In through every door and window poured the MERRY MEN, twenty-four of them, with their bows in their hands. And at the front of them walked Allan-a-Dale, in his bright red cloak.

The old knight took one look at all those archers and decided he didn't want to get married after all. He hobbled out the back door as fast as his cane would carry him.

'Now,' said ROBIN HOOD to the bishop, 'you'll marry these two young people.'

'I can't,' said the bishop, very sniffy. 'The law says a couple must have their names called out in church three times before they can marry.'

'Three times?' said Robin. 'Is that all?' And he turned to Little John, who was the loudest of all the MERRY MEN. 'John, call out their names.'

So Little John climbed up in the pulpit and bellowed, 'Allan-a-Dale and Ellen!' 'Allan-a-Dale and Ellen!!' And just for good measure, seven times, so loud the bells rang in the tower: 'ALLAN-A-DALE AND ELLEN!!!'

'That,' said Robin, 'is more than three.'

The bishop didn't argue. Allan-a-Dale and Ellen were married, right then and there, and Friar Tuck said the blessing. And then everybody went back to Sherwood Forest for the merriest wedding feast England had ever seen. HORN!

From that day on, Allan-a-Dale lived in the greenwood with the MERRY MEN. He was their minstrel, and every night around the campfire, he played his harp and sang. And the song everybody asked for most was the one about the day ROBIN HOOD crashed a wedding.

Storyteller tips: let Little John's name-calling get louder each time, and have the audience shout the third one with you. If your group has a song leader, introduce Allan-a-Dale as the patron saint of campfire song leaders and go straight into a song.

Based on the ballad "Robin Hood and Allen a Dale" (Child Ballad 138). The calling of the names is "the banns," still part of some church weddings.