Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter is Child ballad 102 (

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 ...

3910).

Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of ...

, ''English and Scottish Popular Ballads''
"Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter"
/ref> It recounts the birth of

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 ...

, but is not part of the Robin Hood cycle;

rejected the title The Birth of Robin Hood for it on those grounds.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 412, Dover Publications, New York 1965

Synopsis

Willie, or Archibald, and the earl's daughter fall in love, and she becomes pregnant. They steal away to the woods, where she gives birth to a son. In some variants, she survives and nurses him; in others, she dies, and Archibald laments that his son's being alive makes matters worse because he can not nourish the boy. The earl comes after and recovers the boy, and his daughter, dead or alive. He kisses his grandson and makes him his heir.

Motifs

The motifs for this ballad come from ''

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 ...

''.

Performances

The ballad was recorded by

Spiers and Boden Spiers and Boden are an English folk duo. John Spiers plays melodeon and concertina, while Jon Boden sings and plays fiddle and guitar while stamping the rhythm on a stomp box. Spiers and Boden were founding members of the folk band Bellow ...

under the title The Birth of Robin Hood on their 2008 album Vagabond; a new recording appeared on their 2011 album The Works, with harmony vocals by

Eliza Carthy Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson. Life and ca ...

References

Child Ballads Robin Hood ballads Year of song unknown Songwriter unknown {{folk-song-stub