The Fair Flower of Northumberland
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The Fair Flower of Northumberland (Roud 25, Child 9) is a folk ballad.
[edit] Synopsis
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
A Scottish knight is taken by the earl of Northumberland. He persuades his daughter, the fair flower, to free him and come with him to Scotland, by promising to marry her. As soon as he reaches his home, he tells her to return to Northumberland; he already has a wife and children. Terrified, she returns. In some variants, her father or stepmother complains of how easily her love was won, but in all, her mother or father blames the seduction on Scottish treachery, and says that she will have gold and lands to get her a husband.
Spoilers end here.
[edit] External links
- The Fair Flower of Northumberland in several variants
- The Fair Flower of Northumberland with history