from ,begin bold,The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood,end bold,

With October had come the time for holding the great Fair which was celebrated every five years at Nottingham Town, to which folk came from far and near throughout the country. At such times archery was always the main sport of the day, for the Nottinghamshire yeomen were the best hand at the longbow in all Merry England; but this year the Sheriff hesitated a long time before he issued proclamation of the Fair, fearing lest Robin Hood and his band might come to it. At first he had a great part of a mind not to proclaim the Fair, but second thought told him that men would laugh at him and say among themselves that he was afraid of Robin Hood, so he put that thought by. At last he fixed in his mind that he would offer such a prize as they would not care to shoot for. At such times it had been the custom to offer a half score of marks,superscript,1,baseline, . . . so this year he proclaimed that a prize of two fat steers should be given to the best bowman.

(from ,begin underline,The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood,end underline, by Howard Pyle)


,begin bold,,superscript,1,baseline,marks,end bold, money
Question
This sentence is from the passage.

"At last he fixed in his mind that he would offer such a prize as they would not care to shoot for." (Paragraph 2)

What does this sentence ,begin emphasis,most,end emphasis, clearly suggest about the Sheriff?
Answer options with 4 options
1.
He wants to force Robin Hood to compete for a prize with little value.
2.
He hopes other people will convince Robin Hood to avoid the contest.
3.
He wants to annoy Robin Hood and thus cause him to lose the contest.
4.
He hopes Robin Hood will stay away if the prize is made less appealing.