Joe helps Ellie, a lunch lady at his school, donate cafeteria leftovers to the local food bank. Unfortunately, this defies the rules of the officious Mr. Bison, who wants the food donated to the dumpster instead. This reminds Wishbone of the legend of Robin Hood.
One tie-in book was released — Wishbone Classics #6: The Adventures of Robin Hood, featuring a less compressed adaptation of the original story with comments by Wishbone rather than the modern-day segments.
Tropes
- Adapted Out: The Robin Hood adaptation doesn't include Prince John, leaving the villain role to be filled entirely by the Sheriff of Nottingham.note It also lacks some other traditional Robin Hood characters, such as Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck.
- Blatant Lies: "We are but a few poor pilgrims," claims the man decked out in fancy clothes with a lavish carriage and an entourage of lackeys. Not to mention that he already introduced himself as a lord.
- Fatal Reward:
- The Sheriff of Nottingham promises to reward Wishbone if he leads him to Robin Hood's camp. Once they get there, the Sheriff promptly declares that he will now kill him so that he won't have to share the glory. Of course, this fails because Wishbone is Robin Hood, and he has led the Sheriff into an ambush.
- The Sheriff attempts it again when Wishbone as Robin, once again undercover, wins an archery competition. In this case, it's because the Sheriff set up the competition knowing that only Robin Hood could win it.
- I'm Not Hungry: Joe incites a hunger strike to protest the firing of Ellie.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Obviously. The real-life story is sort of in the spirit of this trope since they are breaking rules to give to the poor, but their infraction is violating bureaucratic red tape rather than stealing from the rich.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Mr. Bison, who has decreed that the cafeteria leftovers are to be sent to the dumpster, and he's more than willing to enforce that decision.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The central theme of the episode. Both the real-world story and the Robin Hood story involve the protagonists breaking the rules for a greater cause, namely to help the poor.
- Sequel Episode: Maybe not a sequel exactly, but this episode can be seen as something of a counterpart to "Sniffing the Gauntlet," seeing how it covers the Robin Hood stuff that was left out of the Ivanhoe adaptation.
- Splitting the Arrow: It wouldn't be a Robin Hood adaptation without this trope, now would it? In the archery competition, Wishbone as Robin does this to ensure it ends with a tie, knowing that a win would expose him as Robin Hood. The Sheriff isn't fooled.
- Stock Punishment: One of the extras in Nottingham is receiving this punishment.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Wishbone as an undercover Robin Hood: "Pots! Who will buy my pots? Nice unsuspicious pots for sale!"
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: With Principal Leonard off at an educational conference, Mr. Bison can do what he wants. This is equated to the absence of King Richard in the Robin Hood story, although the exclusion of Prince John from this version means the episode is a bit vague on who is running England in the King's absence, though historically it was William de Longchamp who was the regent rather than John.
- Undesirable Prize: In the Wishbone Classics tie-in book, the Sheriff offers two beef cattle as a prize at a later tournament in the hopes that Robin, who lives in a forest and doesn't have the pastureland needed to feed the cattle, will not want to enter and win them (and thus embarrass the Sheriff again). It mostly works, as Robin is indeed not interested, but Little John has learned of the reason for the prize and enters the contest in Robin's place, for the honor of Sherwood. He easily wins the prize and then donates the cattle to Nottingham for a feast.
- You Said You Would Let Them Go: Wishbone as Robin surrenders himself to the Sheriff in exchange for Maid Marian's freedom. Surprise! The Sheriff decides to hang them both.
