(HORSES APPROACHING)
(BELL TOLLING)
(DOGS BARKING)
WALTER: Can somebody tell me what's going on?
Don't be foolish, Walter. Get him back to bed.
- Bar the door. - I'm still the master of this house.
Richard, up.
WALTER: Who is there?
Wake up, Thomas.
(SCUFFLING)
Open the gates!
Bastards.
Arrow.
The lantern.
I see you, you little bastards.
I see you!
(LAUGHING EVILLY)
(PEOPLE HOWLING)
(EXHALING)
TOM: Thieving maggots.
They've taken all our seed grain.
What are we going to do for planting?
Pray.
WILL: Hello, there!
(TOOLS CLATTERING)
- Here you go, lad. - Thank you, Robin.
JIMMY: Robin.
The archers been called to ranks.
Bloody typical. I'm starving.
Hide these well.
We'll have them for supper instead.
Sire.
(EXCLAIMING)
Your bath, Sire.
(GRUNTING)
(SOLDIERS CHEERING)
For the love of Christ, Loxley, would you stop them doing that!
They love you, Sire.
My head. It's going like the bells of hell.
(SOLDIERS CHEERING)
Is that it?
One more castle to sack, then we're home to England.
SOLDIER: Hail King Richard!
LEAD ARCHER: Release!
Push!
Hey, archer!
Stay alive!
I'll see you tonight.
Don't forget your money this time, little man.
It will be my pleasure to take it off you.
(LAUGHING)
Push!
Move up!
(YELLING)
ROBERT: Cover the King! Cover the King!
(MEN SHOUTING)
RICHARD: Barricades prepare!
Let us put these French to bed!
Raise the barricades!
(SCREAMING)
ROBIN: Jimmy.
Calm and careful. Make it count.
Go!
(SCREAMING)
(EXCLAIMS)
Help!
RICHARD: Cover!
Now.
Go!
Move back!
Blood for France!
Go!
It'll make a fine pin cushion!
ALL: King Philip's arse!
(ALL SCREAMING)
(CHEERING)
Look what they do for the Lion Heart!
LITTLE JOHN: Push!
Push!
That'll burn all night, lads. Don't let them put it out.
These pricks will smash through in the morning, take all the credit.
Well done, Jimmy boy.
(BELLS RINGING)
(ISABELLA LAUGHING)
ISABELLA: John...
Your Majesty.
An English princess shut out of her husband's bedchamber
by a piece of French pastry!
Aren't you ashamed?
The shame is surely his.
Then go in and tell him.
Mewling at his keyhole is neither one thing nor the other.
John.
(PRINCE JOHN AND ISABELLA LAUGHING)
Oh, God! What in heaven...
Mademoiselle, you will excuse me. My son has need of my advice.
No, I don't. Ask her.
(BOTH GIGGLING)
Mother, please, have you no decency?
I happen to be in a condition that no mother should see her son in.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
- Yes, I know, but it's my mother. - That's enough.
On second thoughts, I think it better that you do hear what I have to say.
Though I will not have you in my presence.
Mother.
The purpose of my being in this room is to save the realm
from the consequences of this unsuitable amusement.
Her uncle is the bloody King of France.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
- My uncle is... (EXHALING) - Get down.
Her uncle wants her back.
Philip wants an excuse to cross
the Channel with an army.
And you have given him that excuse.
Take up your lawful wife and save England.
My lawful wife is as barren as a brick.
Is that truly the wife you want for me?
Hmm?
You, who honoured your husband with eight children
so that even now when death has taken the rest
you have a king and the runt of the litter to call you "Mother."
Better the bastard of a servant girl
than bed the niece of England's jealous enemy.
Or bed her and wed her, Mother.
I've asked the Pope's men to arrange an annulment.
And do you think the Pope
will favour England's royal runt over the King of France?
He might see his way for the son of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
And for the future King of England.
Richard the Lion Heart is 40-years-old, if not more.
And no babies.
I am a queen in the making.
Yes. Yes.
You see?
She is my Eleanor.
ROBIN: Now, you do understand, this game is not about luck.
It's about the science of memory and a quick hand.
ALLAN: Who'd like to take a bit of fresh meat home?
Caught this morning. We have a pheasant.
ROBIN: Three choices. Right, left or middle?
Middle.
"The middle," he says. The middle.
I'm sorry about those onions, young man. You lose.
Robin! Over here, they're needed for the pot.
Feisty one!
Aye, what else we got, what else we got?
ROBERT: The fire will do its work.
We break through at first light.
With a fair wind, we can be home in three days.
You return to Nottingham?
I have a wife who waits for me.
I have a mother that won't die
and a brother who wishes me dead.
First thing I'm going to do is lock them up.
Your people will rejoice to see you return home.
And that is a condition I would like to keep them in.
To be remembered as I was.
My army knows better.
Lion Heart is mangy.
Every man in that army idolises you, Your Majesty.
Don't mollycoddle me.
I understand how difficult it must be to befriend a king.
Come on, Loxley. Let us find some ruffians, drink and laugh.
Let us see if we can find an honest man.
Yes.
Let's do that.
(ALL LAUGHING)
Well, that's the thing, little man. This is not a game of luck.
It's about the science of memory and a quick hand.
I've got a quick eye. I'll be watching you.
ROBIN: Three choices.
Right, left, or middle.
I think I'll take a fourth choice.
- A fourth? - Hmm.
I've been watching you for a while now, Longstride.
There is no pea.
(ALL EXCLAIMING)
This game is a trick!
You take out the pea when you're doing your slidings and your turnings.
I got you.
(GRUNTS)
Don't touch it again.
I'll do it!
(EXCLAIMING)
(ALL LAUGHING)
You lose.
(ALL CHEERING)
WILL: You're doing better than you think.
Get in there, Robin.
(YELLING)
Kneel, you ignorant bastards!
Kneel before the King!
(CHUCKLING)
All of you, move back, now.
No, no, Loxley. These men are soldiers at play.
Sinners after mine own heart.
Which one of you started the fight?
I did, Sire.
I threw the first punch.
Ah, honest man.
And who're you fighting?
He was fighting me, Your Majesty.
I thought him to be a lesser man.
He was showing me different.
An enemy that shows his respect.
Stand up, the pair of you.
Not you.
Brave and honest.
Are you honest enough to tell a king something that he does not want to hear?
What is your opinion on my crusade?
Will God be pleased with my sacrifice?
No, he won't.
Why do you say that?
The massacre at Acre, Sire.
Speak up!
When you had us herd 2,500 Muslim men, women, and children together,
the young woman at my feet, with her hands bound, she looked up at me.
There wasn't fear in her eyes. There wasn't anger.
There was only pity.
For she knew that when you gave the order
and our blades would descend upon their heads,
that, in that moment, we would be godless.
All of us.
Godless.
Honest,
brave
and na"ve.
There is your Englishman.
Right there.
- Well done, Robin. - You showed him.
The whipping will be the worst of it.
The branding iron, that will be the worst.
Unless they hang us.
ROBIN: No. No, this will be the worst of it.
And this will be the end of it. As soon as I get out of here, I'm gone.
I don't owe God or any other man here one more minute of service.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
We go all the way back to the same breast.
Wet nurse.
Indeed.
We've been close ever since.
Good.
Because England, under your friend John,
is a country with no fighting spirit.
I can take London with an army of cooks.
But Richard is on his way home.
And under Richard, England is a different animal altogether.
Richard will return home through the Forest of Broceliande.
We know the exact place.
He always travels ahead of his army with only a few trusted knights around him.
With Richard dead, it will be easy for you to turn the country against John.
There'll never be a better moment to invade.
(CURSING IN FRENCH)
Even dying animals can be obstinate.
Kill the Lion Heart and you will be richly rewarded.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
(ALL CHANTING)
ALL: Heave!
Heave!
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
Heave!
For England!
(ALL YELLING)
For England!
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
I need a physician here!
SOLDIER: A physician! Quickly!
Give us cover! Give us cover, now!
Cover him!
Cover the King.
Physician!
Why, Loxley? Are you not feeling well?
ROBERT: Physician!
Wine.
What's this?
- The King is dead! - Dead?
Dead.
All right, then, Jimmy. Knock the pegs out. We make our own fate from now on!
I'll come with you.
No, you're not. We don't take strays.
The more the merrier.
The road will be dangerous. He might be useful.
Where we going?
To the coast and to a boat before 3,000 desperate soldiers get there
and the price for a Channel crossing goes up a hundredfold.
What about our wages?
If you thought it was hard getting wages while he was alive,
try getting paid by a dead king.
All right, boys, collect your gear as quick as you can.
(CHURCH BELL RINGING)
FRIAR TUCK: I like the new church.
Lady Marion.
I would have been sorry to leave without your farewell. Thank you.
I'm glad to speed you on your way, Father Tancred,
but it was to seek out our new shepherd.
You have lately been missed at Sunday worship and my sermons.
I like a quiet church, Father, when I pray for a miracle.
Your new flock is women, children and old folk.
Our men have gone to war or returned broken.
Their orphans run wild in the greenwood.
Our fields are ready for planting but we've no seed corn.
And the church barn is full of grain.
Surely, you do not expect the church
to let its corn be used to plant your fields?
That grain is bound for York.
I am Friar Tuck.
Father Tancred is elevated to York
where I know he will remind the Bishop that the people of Nottingham...
The Bishop does not need reminding that the people of Nottingham
should reap what they sow and repent of their sins.
The miracle I pray for is that the Bishop show some Christian charity.
As I said, Father, I like a quiet church when I pray.
You will have trouble from the Loxleys of Peper Harow.
(BEES BUZZING)
You keep bees, Tuck?
I keep them and they keep me.
Stop!
Ambush!
(CHATTERING SOFTLY)
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
(ROBERT GROANING)
You're a knight?
Where is King Richard?
Oh, God.
Where is the King?
- Dead. - Dead?
Really?
If the King's dead, where are you going?
Deliver the crown.
Richard's crown.
How do we assassinate a king who's already dead?
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
GODFREY: Bring back the crown! Kill the horse!
(GASPING)
You are English.
When it suits me.
Who are you?
Robert Loxley.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
That's the King's horse.
WILL: Jimmy! Move!
ROBIN: Jimmy!
ALLAN: Robin, they're French.
Ambush.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
Go.
(ROARING)
John.
Don't know.
He's dead.
ROBERT: (SOFTLY) Help.
My sword.
Its value to me is great.
It belonged to my father,
Sir Walter Loxley
of Nottingham.
Do you know it?
Aye, I've heard of Nottingham.
(EXHALING)
Then the fate...
The fates have smiled on me.
(SNORTING)
You must take the sword to my father.
It will bring me peace.
I took it in anger and without his consent.
You must understand the bond of love
between a father and his son.
My father abandoned me to the world of men when I was six years old.
I know little of the love between father and son.
I beg you.
Longstride,
say you will.
I will.
It's a pact sworn in blood, Robin.
It's a scratch, Allan, and that's all it is.
WILL: Robin!
Loxley was making for the coast to meet the ship.
That crown could be our passage home.
We're common archers, Robin.
If we arrive at the King's ship with his crown, we'll be accused of murder.
How do you know
that the knights you see walking about are actually knights at all?
There is no difference between a knight
and any other man aside from what he wears.
All we need is about us.
Armour, helmets, swords,
and we make England wealthy men
with horses and gold.
Fate has smiled upon us at last.
And I, for one, shall not turn my back on her.
Take that crown off your head, Will,
and fill it to the brim.
ROBIN: We commit the soul of this boy to your keeping, Lord.
We would ask, when he arrives at the gates of eternity,
if you could let him in.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
PAUL: Goliath's got the soil turning nicely. But for what?
- Nettles? - Nettle soup and dandelion salad,
that'll keep us alive.
Come, Goliath. This way.
Until we get a miracle.
MARION: This way.
TOM: Marion, Sheriff.
SHERIFF: Marion, I've been at Peper Harow, waiting in vain
for Sir Walter to receive me.
Kindly tell him I have better things to do than haunt his threshold.
That you have, while robbers are roaming free in Sherwood.
That's sheriff's business. Why don't you look to it?
Tell the old fool that next time, I'll break his door down.
- And if he's too proud to pay... - No, no, no, no. He's not too proud.
He's too poor.
In the name of King Richard, you have stripped our wealth
to pay for foreign adventures.
Whilst at home, the Church, in the name of the merciful God,
has reaped, without mercy, the largest share of what we had set aside to feed ourselves.
Between a sheriff and a bishop, I wouldn't care to judge
who's the greater curse on honest English folk.
(MARION GASPING)
Marion,
why, oh, why do you make an enemy of me
when you have the means to make me your protector?
What means?
If you leave now,
I will lengthen your life by not telling my husband
of your visit when he returns home.
(LAUGHING) Your husband? After 10 years?
If he's not dead, he's rutting his way through the brothels of the Barbary Coast.
So speaks a man of experience.
Well, think on it, Marion.
Sir Walter is dying without an heir.
Peper Harow will fall to the crown, and you will be living in the hedgerow.
You'll be glad to come to me then.
Captain, there.
Sir, we were told to expect 12 riders and the King.
Our beloved King is dead.
Long live the King.
And you are, sir?
Sir Robert Loxley of Nottingham. And you?
I'm the King's equerry, Sir.
Come aboard, gentlemen, before the tide floats her. It's coming in fast.
(HORSES SCREAMING)
(SINGING) And it's row, me bully boys We're in a hurry, boys
We got a long way to go
Where we'll sing and we'll dance And bid farewell to France
And row, me bully boys, row
And it's row, me bully boys We're in a hurry boys
We got a long way to go
We'll sing and we'll dance And bid farewell to France
And row, me bully boys, row
(SINGING CONTINUES)
So what's the plan in the morning?
The boat stops at Gravesend on the way to London.
We'll leave the honour of returning the crown to them, and we'll be gone.
Where?
North.
Well, that suits me.
(SINGING) Row, me bully boys, row
But now we're returning So lock up your daughters
We'll sing and we'll dance And bid farewell to France
And it's row, me bully boys, row
(SNORING)
Make ready, Sir Robert. We dock in 20 minutes.
Gravesend?
No, My Lord. The palace docks, Tower of London.
Will.
(SNORING)
John. Allan.
(MUTTERING)
- Where are we? - London.
Holy Christ!
(SHUSHING)
MAN: We dock in 10 minutes.
When this is done, be ready to ride.
What if... What if Loxley is known
to the King's mother or brother or any of them?
Then we'll be riding for our lives.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Peter and Paul and Mary!
I knew it! I knew it!
EQUERRY: Good morning, My Lord.
Some words of advice on this tragic occasion.
You appreciate everything must be done correctly,
so you will present the crown to Lady Eleanor.
You will go down on the right knee.
Do not look in her eyes when you tell her the King is no more.
And do not rise until all others rise. Do you understand?
Yes.
ELEANOR: Agnes.
My blue and gold brocade.
Yes, My Lady.
(CHURCH BELLS RINGING)
(SIGHING)
(HERALDS PLAYING)
AGNES: Part for the Queen.
Part for the Queen.
MAN: Cease.
What's this? What's happening?
King Richard returns from France, My Lord.
Did Loxley deceive us?
ELEANOR: Kneel.
Long life, my son.
Rise now.
A king is dead.
Long live the King.
ALL: Long live the King!
- Long live the King! - Long live the King!
Rise.
You...
I don't know you.
Robert Loxley, Sire, of Nottingham.
PRINCE JOHN: Welcome then.
And how did my brother die?
In battle, Your Majesty, as was his way.
As was his way.
You deserve a reward...
ALLAN: (WHISPERING) Let's get the horses.
PRINCE JOHN: For bringing home the news.
Kneel.
Did you say you were from Nottingham?
Yes.
Your father, Sir Walter,
owes tax to the crown.
My crown.
Tell him it's bloody expensive running a country
and everyone's got to pay their way.
We'll start with this.
MAN: Make way for the King!
Make way!
Your Majesty.
MAN: Make way for the King!
- Make way! - Godfrey.
Godfrey, my friend. It's so good to see you.
- How were your travels? - Good, Sire.
What happened to your face?
A hunting accident. It's nothing.
(GRUNTING)
- Frightening. - Your Majesty.
Call it a duelling scar. The ladies will love you all the more.
I bow to your knowledge of the ladies, Sire.
You can get up now.
MARSHAL: Sir Robert.
You will know of me, perhaps. I'm William Marshal.
Your father and I were young men together.
Tell him I'm coming to visit him soon, on spring's first black night.
I may have need of him.
I will. I'll tell him.
Whoever he is and whatever he is, he knows too much.
Get rid of him.
Come on, let's follow.
(RUSTLING)
(DISTANT CALLING)
Forfeit what you got.
Victuals, coin, clothing
or your life.
(COUGHING)
Thomas Cooper.
Is that you?
Are you sick, Thomas?
We're all sick.
- Where are the rest of you? - Don't... Don't tell her.
Loop will be angry.
No, it's your mother who's going to be angry.
Now, either you come with me, or I come with you.
You choose.
Well, come on then. Where are they?
Answer me.
Four men, five horses, one grey.
- Have you seen them? - That way.
(ALLAN SINGING) The living king of sermons
Was delivered from his evil
But he couldn't talk his last
Because God took out his throat
God's crossbow took out his throat
By Christ! Can you not sing a happy tune?
Sing a foot-stomper about adventure and daring and courage.
No. Sing something about a woman.
A large woman.
(SINGING) Fancy army, darling I loves you all to bits
I'll climb up to your chamber And under your mountainous...
ROBIN: Right. I'm done. The money's divided.
And so should we be.
Where will you go?
I think something is owed for this good fortune,
and I mean to pay it back.
How so?
The inscription on the sword, it taunts my memory.
Maybe it's just my imagination, I don't know.
But I intend to take that sword back to its owner
and fulfil the request of his dying son.
WILL: Are you mad?
You just said we were in danger, Robin.
Now you choose to step back in to harm's way?
They're bound to go there and find you.
We can't repay our good luck with bad grace. It invites darkness.
- I'm going with you. - And I, Robin.
- Yes. - No.
Tonight is our last in company.
Tomorrow, we go our separate ways.
Pack up your share. We eat and sleep.
Will, you're on first watch.
(SNORING)
(MIMICS ANIMAL CALLING)
Will.
LITTLE JOHN: Watch your step!
ROBIN: One of them got away.
Bastards! They've stolen my fortune.
Richard's army is coming home.
It costs money to keep it together. Marshal, you speak for the money.
MARSHAL: I do, Sire.
But to disband the army could cost more than to keep it.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
King Richard's campaigns were costly. And the expected returns...
What is that to me, Marshal?
My brother's troubles are over!
They're over!
Clear the room.
So... Taxation.
ELEANOR: Taxation?
Milking a dry udder gets you nothing but kicked off the milking stool.
Mother, spare me your farmyard memories.
You have none, and I don't understand them.
These are difficult times.
We can buy time.
I can send envoys to secure loans.
There are money chests from Sicily to Normandy if you know where to look.
Cap-in-hand to moneylenders?
Your master's a king.
The crown is owed money at home.
The northern barons plead poverty, but that's always been the song of rich men.
So, what's to be done?
Give me leave, Sire, to go north with a company of mounted men.
I'll have the merchants and landowners fill your coffers
or their coffins.
Englishmen killing Englishmen.
No man loyal to the crown has anything to fear.
And loyalty means paying your share in the defence of the realm.
That's well said.
Hmm? Don't you think, Marshal?
Mother?
Richard commanded loyalty not by threats but by example.
Mother, your sainted son was an imbecile.
And you supported his every folly from here to Jerusalem and back.
Yes, you worshipped him
when the warrior lost territories hard won by his father.
You kissed his picture
while England had to pay four years' revenue
to ransom him when he was captured.
You are just as much to blame as anyone
for the wreckage which is my inheritance.
I broke her skin more than she did mine.
Chancellor.
Marshal,
you served my brother faithfully and my father before him.
I think you've spent enough time with my family
and, no doubt, would like to spend more with your own.
Therefore, and with regret,
I accept your resignation of all your offices and matters of state.
The ring.
MARSHAL: Your Majesty.
Choose carefully, Godfrey, the spot where you would place your dagger.
For I will choose carefully, as well.
MAN: Open the gates!
Nottingham.
- Is this your people, Robin? - I don't know. Might be.
They don't look much, these Middle Englanders.
Well, they've been keeping your lot in place easy enough, haven't they?
I hear that you Welsh boys, you live on leeks.
You co-habit with sheep.
(MIMICS SHEEP BLEATING)
Bloody Scottish mule.
(SHUSHING)
You wouldn't want to annoy a bee hive with your noise, would you?
Your swords would be no good then, gentlemen.
You're the town beekeeper?
Bless you, no. I'm the friar. Tuck's the name.
Well, Friar Tuck, can you tell me where I might find Sir Walter Loxley?
If he's not up at Peper Harow...
How long will your business take?
Stay safe.
God be with you all.
That's it?
After 10 years?
Good Friar, where can a man get, well,
moderately insensible on a drink around here?
Allan, he's a man of the cloth. I'm sorry, Friar.
- Have you coin? - I have coin.
Two pieces.
Each.
Have you tried the honey liquor we call mead?
Come with me.
Gives a man a halo, does mead.
Girl.
(SCOFFING) Girl?
Either you're going blind or you're looking for charity.
Are you the keeper of this house?
In a manner of speaking, yes.
I wish to see Sir Walter Loxley.
And you are?
Robin Longstride.
Plain Robin Longstride? No Sir?
No, ma'am. No Sir.
Are you here about the tax?
No, I'm here to bring him his sword. His son's dead.
This way.
He'll take your horse.
(SIGHS)
WALTER: Marion!
Marion!
Maggie, where is she?
Ma'am, Sir Walter calls for you.
MARION: I know, Margaret. I can hear him.
Tell him we have a guest.
I'm Marion Loxley. Robert's wife.
My Lady, I owe you an apology. If I'd have known...
Bad news is bad news no matter how it comes.
Indeed, I owe you thanks for taking the time to deliver it here yourself.
Did you fight alongside my husband?
Yes.
Did he die well?
In an ambush, ma'am.
He was the man chosen to bring home Richard's crown.
WALTER: Marion, who is here?
MARION: A traveller, Walter.
This news will go very hard on him.
WALTER: Bring him in.
MARION: Yes, yes.
Tell him Robert is in the Holy Land, sends his love and will return soon.
Marion, our traveller will be thirsty.
Travellers are always thirsty. Is that not so?
Your name, sir?
Longstride. Robin Longstride.
Do you mock me?
Sir?
Your son,
he asked me to bring you this.
And how does Robert defend himself if he has no sword?
The prodigal son will not return after all.
(EXHALES)
So, no tears, no forgiveness from his father.
(CLEARING THROAT)
No amends to be made.
Did you see him die?
I was with him when he passed.
His final words were for the love and bond between a father and son.
Forgive my rudeness.
My grief has been waiting for this day.
So come, so that I may see you.
Robin Longstride.
A common enough but noble Saxon name.
So, you will dine with us.
But first, you must bathe, sir.
You stink.
I've laid out some of my husband's clothes. I hope you don't find that too discomforting.
(MAIDS GIGGLING)
My Lady,
I'll need some help with the chain mail.
Winifred.
The coif has a clasp at the nape of the neck.
If you take off the coif, you'll find lacings in the back of the tabard.
(ROBIN CLEARING THROAT)
(SIGHING)
Thank you.
I'll have it washed.
WALTER: Marion, more wine.
You've taken a long road to bring this to me.
I cannot decide whether that makes you trustworthy...
Or manipulative.
Marion, I'm merely trying to gauge the quality of the man we have as our guest.
Is he handsome?
Yes.
In the way that yeomen sometimes are when they are sober.
WALTER: Entertain us with a tale of your life, sir.
We don't get many visitors any more.
Except tax collectors and other beggars.
I don't know where I'm from. Only know where I've been.
WALTER: So, Marion, what colour are his eyes?
I don't yet know.
I have a proposal for you, young man.
You brought me this sword, which has great meaning.
If you give me your time,
it is yours.
I could stay for a day, or more.
- I have a question to ask you. - WALTER: And what is your question?
The words on the hilt of the sword, what do they mean?
Well, I think I have much to tell you about history. About your history.
That's very kind.
Well, you haven't heard the other half of my proposal yet.
I want you to stay in Nottingham and, for the time being,
become my returned son, and therefore Marion's spouse.
Oh, that's enough!
- You've had too much to drink. - Listen. Listen. Listen.
We both know that without a husband you will lose this land when I die.
Do you dispute that? Hmm?
- No. - No, so if I say this is my son,
he will be seen as that. And, so, as your husband. Huh?
It is a fair contract.
It is not as if I expect you to have children or...
No, the sword for your time, Longstride.
Are you in agreement?
- Yes. - WALTER: Marion, go tell the staff
that my son has arrived and our home is now whole again.
Tell them to ring the church bells in celebration.
And more wine, please.
(PLAYING FOLK TUNE)
(SINGING) Hey! Hey!
I rose up in the morning
And I felt a dire need
To dream away the dreary day and down a cup of mead
I felt the sting of honeybees
Home brew.
If I wasn't the village priest, I'd try for the village drunkard.
(CROWD CHANTING)
Oh, great.
WILL: A man could get very affectionate here.
I haven't seen so many women for so few men outside a nunnery.
The secret to success is never go for the prettiest one.
Start with the homely one on the left.
Right there.
She's about my size. I'm going to make her smile.
I'm going to make you smile!
Come over here!
So, why do they call you Little John?
What are you trying to get at?
I'm proportionate.
(ALLAN SINGING) So roll another barrel to the bar
And pour another cup or two so I can soak my heart
(PIGEONS COOING)
Stop it.
What did I tell you?
It seems we are to share my chamber.
A ruse to convince the servants.
Well, if the aim is deception,
should you not be addressing me as "My husband," or, "My dear"?
(SCOFFING) Don't be ridiculous.
Well, are you coming or not?
Ask me nicely.
Please, dear husband, will you share my chamber?
(MARION WHISTLES)
Here.
I sleep with a dagger.
If you so much as move to touch me, I will sever your manhood.
You understand?
Thanks for the warning.
Hello, dogs.
(WHISTLING)
(ANSWERING WHISTLE)
(BOTH SPEAKING FRENCH)
(SOLDIERS EXCLAIMING)
(MARSHAL READING)
Godfrey.
Where are your men?
They're dead, My Lord.
And Loxley?
Alive.
Then fate has left him to me.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
I hear a man's steps. Good morning, my son.
Morning, Walter.
(LAUGHING)
Father.
ROBIN: Father.
So what is it that you know of my history?
Patience.
You must show yourself today. Wear your sword.
Marion.
I'm here, Walter.
Reacquaint your husband with his village and his people.
I'll see to the horses.
WALTER: I feel invigorated.
I woke this morning with a tumescent glow.
Eighty-four.
A miracle.
I've always wondered at the private conversations of men.
Husband.
This is rich country.
Where's your cattle and your sheep?
Sold, eaten, stolen, traded. We've had seven lean years.
Our meat now is rabbit
or wild pig on a lucky day.
And deer?
If you're willing to risk your neck to the King's executioner.
Every deer in the land belongs to His Majesty.
These things are God's gifts first before the King's possessions.
If it's illegal for a man to fend for himself
how then can he be a man in his own right?
Welcome home, sir.
JOSEPH: Sir Robert. MARION: Good morning, Joseph. Emma.
Sir Walter is our Lord, and you are Robert returned and you should act so.
Sir Robert. You remember me?
Tom Chamberlain. Pig farmer.
You don't look a day older, Tom.
WOMAN: Sir Robert.
When will our young lads come back to us?
Will you find my Jamie, tell him to come home?
With no work and little food, the village boys have gone.
- To be soldiers? - Poachers.
Look at that, mate.
Still here then?
For the time being, refer to me as Sir Robert. I'll explain later.
My men-at-arms. This is about as courtly as they get.
Allan A'Dayle, Will Scarlet and Little John.
Lady Marion.
I trust you had an historic evening.
For sure.
Lady Marion Loxley. My wife.
Well played.
A bit rash but well played nonetheless.
Right you are, Robin.
Sir Robert.
- Sir Robert. - Sir...
- Sir. - Sir.
- Sir Bob. - Sir Robert.
Friar.
Ah, Marion. Good news travels from Peper Harow this morning.
Sir Robert, nice to see you again.
You should've made yourself known when we met in the field. Welcome home.
Yes, I should've. Forgive me, Friar.
What happens here?
FRIAR TUCK: We're moving the Church's grain to York.
Politics out of London, I hear.
This is our grain. It belongs in this soil.
Lady Marion, I but follow the orders of my superiors
and abide by their saying and rule.
Does His Holiness know about your wealth of honey?
There are wolves in York, Sir Robert. Voracious wolves.
The bees are my family.
I'm a procreator by design.
I'm not a churchy friar. Never was.
My bees give life.
They are my life, Sir Robert.
Should not the Bishop be told
so the clergy can spread Nottingham honey on Nottingham bread?
What if the grain were not to reach York?
Then the bees need not be spoken of.
MARION: I was an old maid when Robert courted me.
I was a daughter of a respectable widow with a thimbleful of noble blood.
We were wed, and then a week later
he left to join ship for France and the Holy Lands.
And that was my married life to a man
I hardly knew.
- A good knight. - Short, but sweet.
I mean, he was a good knight.
A good knight-at-arms, a soldier.
(STAMMERING) Oh, yes, my knight-in-arms, even so.
And I in his.
(BLEATING)
Stop! You'll break its neck.
Marion.
Easy.
(EXCLAIMING)
I'm all right.
I can't move me legs.
Thank you.
My Lord?
Oh, is it my turn now?
Thank you.
Nicely done, sir. (LAUGHING)
And to see Lady Marion Loxley's legs, beyond my wildest hopes this morning.
I don't believe you know my husband,
Sir Robert.
Allow me to introduce the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Welcome home, Sir Robert.
You make your mark quickly by rescuing the King's ram from drowning.
What's this?
What's mine in coin I have the right to take in goods or livestock.
If it's God's will.
Here's a ram's worth of tax for the Exchequer.
Your insolence to Lady Marion, I'll consider a debt between us.