Much the Miller's Son

Much the Miller's Son is, in the tales of Robin Hood, one of his Merry Men. He appears in some of the oldest ballads, A Gest of Robyn Hode and Robin Hood and the Monk, as one of the company.

In A Gest of Robyn Hode, he helps capture Richard at the Lee and when Robin lends that knight money to pay off his debts, he is one of the Merry Men who insists on giving him a horse and clothing appropriate to his station. In Robin Hood and the Monk, he is one of the rescuers of the captive Robin; in this brutal ballad, he kills a page boy so that the boy can not bear word that the outlaws killed the monk of the title. He then disguises himself as the page and Little John disguises himself as the monk. The implication that Much is of small stature is not made explicit.

In other tales, he was also known as Midge the Miller's son. This is the name used by Howard Pyle in his Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. In the 1991 movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, a character resembling Much in many respects is the young boy named Wulf; another character named "Much the Miller's Son" does appear in the movie (played by Jack Wild), but he has extremely little screen time.

In the earlier tales, however, Much is slightly older and takes a much more physical role; indeed he is a formidable fighter. Much is present from the very earliest Robin Hood ballads, in which he often accompanies Little John.

Herbert Mundin portrayed Much in the 1938 Errol Flynn version. Much has a notable role in the television series Robin of Sherwood (1984–86), in which he is Robin's adopted brother (a role given to Will Scarlet in some versions). In the series he is portrayed as somewhat mentally lacking, needing Robin to look after him. It was his killing a deer without thinking of the consequences that led to them becoming outlaws.

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