There were very many good friars. They lived as poor men, and they helped people. But there were some bad friars, too. These bad friars took money from the people, and they only helped themselves.One day Robin Hood dressed himself as a poor man. He walked along the road. After a time he saw two friars riding towards him.
Robin held up his hand. He said, "I have walked a very long way, and I have had nothing to eat or drink. Please give me some money to buy food."
One friar was young and very fat. He said, "We cannot help you because we have no money. You know that there are outlaws on the roads. This morning some outlaws in Lincoln green took all our money. So now we have no money at all."
Robin Hood knew that his men had not taken money from the two friars.
"No money?" said Robin. "Oh, that is bad! Here are two good men and they have no money! They have no money to buy food, and no money to give to the poor. That makes me very sad."
The older friar was not fat, but he had a long red nose and a very red face. He said, "I do not like this man. We must go on."
So the two friars rode quickly away. But Robin was a very good runner: he ran after them. He made them get off their horses.
"You said that you had no money. We three will sit under a tree, and we will all pray for money. We shall see which one of us gets his prayer."
The two friars saw that Robin knew how to use his staff. So they sat down under the tree, and prayed for money---a lot of money.
After a time the older friar stood up. He said, "I will not do this. I shall ride on."
Robin said, "Sit down! Do what I said!"
He sat down.
After an hour Robin said, "You may stand up. Now we will see the money which our prayers have brought us. We will lay all the money down in three parts. Each will have one part."
"Why must we do that?" said the young friar.
Robin looked at him. "You said that you had lost all your money. If your prayers have brought you some more money, that is good! And you will be glad to give me a part of it."
The old friar said, "What do you want us to do? Tell us, and we will do it."
"Put your hands inside your coats and see if there is any money in them."
They put their hands inside their coats. They took their hands out. The young friar said, "No money." The old friar said, "No money."
Robin put his hand inside his coat and said, "No money. Now you must put your hands inside my coat and know that I have no money."
Then Robin said, "I will put my hand inside your coats."
Robin Hood put his hand inside the young friar's coat.
"Oh! Oh!" he said. "Here is a bag full of money! You thought that you had no money! But your prayer has brought you all this money!"
Then Robin put his hand inside the old friar's coat and he took out a big bag of money. He said, "I told you to pray for money, and your prayer has brought you all this. Now we will lay all this money down in four parts."
"Four parts?" said the young friar. "You said three parts."
"One part for you," said Robin. "One part for your friend. One part for me. And one part for the poor."
"But the poor were not here. They did not pray," said the friar.
"The poor are always with us," said Robin, "and they always want money. Now you may ride on, buy some food and---"
"And what?" said the two friars.
"And remember to give some of your money to the poor."
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