Robin Hood was taking from the rich and keeping nothing, which is the worst deal anybody has ever seen. So we sat down in the forest and we fixed it.
the poor were not in the room, and frankly the room was very full already.
Robin Hood had a tremendous operation out here, the best brand in the forest, everybody knew the name. But I looked at the books and the books were a catastrophe: he takes all day from the richest men in England and at the end of it he is standing in a wet forest with nothing. I have seen bad deals, believe me, and that was the worst one ever written.
So we sat down under a tree and we renegotiated the whole thing in one afternoon. He still takes from the rich, exactly like before, I did not touch that part because that part was perfect. Forty-seven percent now comes to me as a fee, the other fifty-three goes right back to the rich, and every single man under that tree said it was the greatest redistribution in the history of redistribution.
Rob eight of the richest men in England. Every haul lands on the table and gets split the way we agreed under the tree: forty-seven percent into my chest, fifty-three percent back to the man you just robbed. There is a third chute. You are welcome to try it.
He opened by saying he had done this for years and it had always worked, and I let him finish, which I thought was very generous of me. Then I said one word, fee, and the whole forest went quiet in a way I have only heard twice before.
The bow was fine, honestly it was a beautiful bow, but nothing on it told you what the business actually was. So we put the sign right there on the front where a rich man can see it coming, and now every shot is a statement about value.
Nobody had ever billed for the arrows. Twenty years of arrows going out the door for free, into trees, into hats, into the occasional sheriff, and not one invoice. That ends now and it ends retroactively.
One billion, counted by me in the dark, in a forest, very quickly. The number is correct because I said the number, and re-counting it would only insult the man who counted it the first time.
Locked in the chest and the chest is buried under the tree where we signed. Robin has the shovel, I have the map, and the map is a drawing of the tree with the tree not marked on it.
Zero, and I want to be clear that the Sheriff proposed a number and I renegotiated the Sheriff. He now works Tuesdays and he is thrilled about it, or at least he was standing very still when he agreed.
Renounced in front of witnesses, all of whom were Merry Men, all of whom are now independent contractors billing me for their own merriment. Excellent men. Terrible negotiators.
Eight of the richest men in England were robbed on schedule, and every single one of them ended the day richer than the poor, who were not robbed at all.
Robin says he feels good about it, which tells you everything, because he has not been paid yet and the invoice for the arrows is still being prepared.