It had been roughly thirty years since last I perused Stevenson's The Black Arrow. I remember wanting to skip school just to finish it, and a decided lack of interest in homework - though that, was maybe not related to this particular book, but more of a general trend. Swashbuckling, piracy, dukes, earls and whatnot, a romantic interest, and the nefarious Black Arrow gang of jolly forest brigands. There is nothing to dislike in there.
A young, not quite yet a, man, Richard Shelton is orphaned and in the tutelage of one Sir Daniel Brackley. Said Sir Daniel, through brigandous moves, gets a yound maid, Joana Sedley in his avaricious hands - the care of a young soul is the sale of its marriage. As the book goes, we learn that Sir Daniel lives for money, hence the rapt of Joana from her erstwhile tutor, the killing of Richard's father when he was but a boy, the disposession of numerous tenants of their assets, and more. Disgruntled tenants form a band of brigands, and vow to avenge these wrongs with a black arrow for each corrupt heart.
At the same time, the War of the Roses is running strong in England, and Sir Daniel is in no particular hurry to chose a camp, waiting to see who'll be the victor.
On these threads hangs Stevenson's tapestry, and it is sadly much more dilapidated than my boyish memories made it to be. One of the very first scenes in the book shows young Joana disguised as a boy through Sir Daniel's cunning try to evade his custody, and being rejoined by Richard who isn't the wiser as her true gender. He will proceed to be a bully to the frail and small boy he thinks she is, insulting, mocking, and finally menacing to lash her with his belt. On such shaky grounds is built Joana's love for Richard, which will endure until the happy end. Granted, Richard saves her from a patch of quicksand, but then she saves him from drowning. This premise seems fundamentally flawed and mars the rest of the reading. Until the main meal arrives.
The aforementioned outlaws bear some affection for Richard, as his dead father was friend of their leader, and died from their enemy's hand. For a while he lives with them, so that so, the leader gives him command of his men to rescue the maid. Imagine yourself hunted by the sheriff's men, eking a living out in the forest, an outlaw to man and God, taking a stray teenager in for sheer love, then making him lord it over your followers of many years? That's so unlikely as to make the possibility the writer of this blog being Albert Einstein nearing a hundred percent. And that's not the end of it - after a few adventures in Joana's liberty's name, our young Richard happens upon a fight where one hunchback defends against several assaulters. He only listens to his sense of justice (given his earlier bullying, I'd say "his lust for battle"), and joins the less numerous sight of the fray. They soundly rout the enemy, upon which it is revealed the lone fighter is none other than Richard the hunchback, soon to become III. Then, the incredulous reader has to, bemused and at a loss for words, witness this homonymous Richard give command of a hundred of his troops to young Richard during the assault of Shoreby.
The city is taken, Sir Daniel who had escaped harm all along, finally gets a black arrow in his black heart, they marry and live happily ever after.
Novels where teenagers are the main characters abound. A fair few of these are meant for an adult readership. But none pretend that, on a whim, an unknown teen gets command of many adults, nevermind if he is minor gentry. The Duke may die, making his already battle-hardened eldest, yet young, son the de-facto commander of the troops. After fighting gallantly upon the field for months, a young urchin might be promoted by a generous lord. But never in the history of litterature, has an untried teen been given command of a hundred on a whimsical fantasy, except in Stevenson's book.
I wonder if I'll ever read Treasure Island again, now. Bah!