Brewer's: Archers

The best archers in British history and story are Robin Hood and his two comrades Little John and Will Scarlet.

The famous archers of Henry II. were Tepus his bowman of the Guards, Gilbert of the white hind, Hubert of Suffolk, and Clifton of Hampshire.

Nearly equal to these were Egbert of Kent and William of Southampton.

Domitian, the Roman emperor, we are told, could shoot four arrows between the spread fingers of a man's hand.

Tell, who shot an apple set on the head of his son, is a replica of the Scandinavian tale of Egil, who, at the command of King Nidung, performed a precisely similar feat.

Robin Hood, we are told, could shoot an arrow a mile or more.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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