Who was Robin Hood?

“He stole from the rich and gave to the poor” is a favorite saying about this notorious outlaw. According to legend, Robin is supposed to have lived in Sherwood Forest with his band of Merry Men, robbing wealthy travelers and giving their gold and jewels to the poor people of Nottingham shire and Yorkshire. The first written account of him is the The Vision of Piers Plowman, a poem written by William Langland in 1377, and since then legends have grown up, showing Robin as a sort of medieval superhero, although obviously these legends were well known before the poem was written. In spite of these tales, not much is known of the real Robin Hood, and some people even believe that he may be sort of woodland spirit, since Robin was often a name given to spirits, elves and pixies. It is doubtful whether anything will ever be known about the real outlaw Robin Hood, unless some startling evidence is found, proving him to have really been what all the stories say he was.