could not shake off, Robin finally dragged himself to the priory of
Kirk Lee, where he besought the prioress to bleed him. Either because
she was afraid to defy the king or because she owed Robin a personal
grudge, this lady opened an artery instead of a vein, and, locking the
door of his room, left him there to bleed to death. The unsuspecting
Robin patiently awaited her return, and, when he finally realized his
plight and tried to summon aid, he was able to blow only the faintest
call upon his horn. This proved enough, however, to summon Little
John, who was lurking in the forest near by, for he dashed toward the
priory, broke open the door, and forced his way into the
turret-chamber, where he found poor Robin nearly gone.

At his cries, the prioress hastened to check the bleeding of Robin's
wound, but too late! Faintly whispering he would never hunt in the
forest again, Robin begged Little John string his bow, and raise him
up so he could shoot a last arrow out of the narrow window, adding
that he wished to be buried where that arrow fell. Placing the bow in
Robin's hand, Little John supported his dying master while he sent his
last arrow to the foot of a mighty oak, and "something sped from that
body as the winged arrow sped from the bow," for it was only a corpse
Little John laid down on the bed!

At dawn on the morrow six outlaws bore their dead leader to a grave
they had dug beneath the oak, above which was a stone which bore this
inscription:

Here underneath this little stone
Lies Robin, Earl of Huntington,
None there was as he so good,
And people called him Robin Hood.