A Robin Hood Dance

4.9

In a little village in Staffordshire a very old dance is performed in September every year. Six men in Robin Hood costumes carry deer’s horns set in wooden deer’s heads. They walk together with a number of other characters from the Robin Hood legends: Maid Marian, the girl whom Robin Hood loved and married, a knight on a wooden horse, a boy in the traditional costume of a jester, another boy with a bow and many musicians.

The dance begins at nine o’clock in the morning near the house where the costumes, the horns and all the other things are kept during the winter. The dancers walk through a wood and visit many farms where they eat, drink and dance.

In the afternoon they get back through the village and dance in the streets. The dance ends in the middle of the night in the marketplace. Very many people take part in the dance.