"Rose the Red and White Lily" is Child ballad number 103. (

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

3335)

Synopsis

Rose the Red and White Lily had lost their mother, and their father had remarried an

evil stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a non-biological female parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. Culture Ste ...

. They had two stepbrothers who fell in love with them, and their stepmother sent them away. When they asked her to treat their loves as well as she treated them, she vowed they would never see them again. They ran away and dressed as men. Rose the Red went to court to find Bold Arthur. White Lily went to the greenwood in search of her love Brown Robin—or in some variants

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

-- she found him, and became pregnant. When she went into labor, she asked him to blow the horn to summon her brother. Jealous, he refuses. She blows it, Rose the Red comes, and Brown Robin fights her until she is wounded and admits to being a woman. The news that one of Brown Robin's men has given birth spread to the court, and the king and Bold Arthur, Rose the Red's love, came to see. They found White Lily, Rose the Red, and Brown Robin. The king insisted on a double wedding, and Rose the Red commented on what their stepmother's reaction would have been, if only she could see.

Commentary

The birth in the wood is a common ballad motif, being found in ''

Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter is Child ballad 102 (Roud 3910).Francis James Child, ''English and Scottish Popular Ballads''"Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter"/ref> It recounts the birth of Robin Hood, but is not part of the Robin Hood cycle ...

'', ''

Willie o Douglas Dale Willie o Couglas Dale or Willie O Douglas Dale is Child ballad 101. Synopsis Willie goes to court, and he and a lady fall in love. When she is pregnant, they flee, but she goes in labor on the way, and gives birth to a son. They go on with the ...

'', and ''

Leesome Brand Leesome Brand is Child Ballad number 15 and Roud #3301. Synopsis Leesome Brand few boyes like in ten years old. An eleven-year-old girl fell in love with him, but nine months later, called on him to saddle horses, take her dowry, and flee with he ...

''.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', volume 2, p 416, Dover Publications, New York, 1965 In one variant, this ballad introduces

; the sisters both go to the wood and end up marrying Robin Hood and

Little John Little John is a companion of Robin Hood who serves as his chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men. He is one of only a handful of consistently named characters who relate to Robin Hood and one of the two oldest Merry Men, al ...

. This is not part of the Robin Hood cycle and appears to stem from the hero's name being Brown Robin, suggesting a connection.

References

{{Francis James Child Child Ballads Robin Hood ballads