Page "Robin Hood" Paragraph 67

The plots of neither " the Monk " nor " the Potter " are included in the Gest ; and neither is the plot of " Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne " which is probably at least as old as those two ballads although preserved in a more recent copy.

Each of these three ballads survived in a single copy, so it is unclear how much of the medieval legend has survived, and what has survived may not be typical of the medieval legend.

It has been argued that the fact that the surviving ballads were preserved in written form in itself makes it unlikely they were typical ; in particular stories with an interest for the gentry were by this view more likely to be preserved.

The story of Robin's aid to the " poor knight " that takes up much of the Gest may be an example.