Merry Men

The Merry Men are the group of outlaws who follow Robin Hood in English literature and folklore.

The Merry Men are Robin Hood's group who work to rob from the rich and give to the poor.

The early ballads give specific names to only three companions: Little John, Much the Miller's Son, and William Scarlock or Scathelock, the Will Scarlet of later traditions.

He appears in the earliest ballads, and is mentioned in even earlier sources, such as Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Chronicle of around 1420 and Walter Bower's expansion of the Scotichronicon, completed around 1440.

The phrase "merry man" was originally a generic term for any follower or companion of an outlaw, knight, or similar leader.