Childe Rowland
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Childe Rowland is a fairy tale, the most popular version written by Joseph Jacobs in his English Fairy Tales, published in 1890, based on an earlier version published in 1814 by Robert Jamieson. Jamieson's was repeating a "Scottish ballad", which he had heard from a tailor.
Joseph Jacobs called the King of Elfland's palace "the Dark Tower" in his version, an addition he made that was not part of the original ballad. This harks to Shakespeare's King Lear and Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came".
It is
Synopsis
The story tells of how the four children of the Queen (by some accounts
The eldest brother decided he would make the journey, and was told what to do by Merlin. He did not return, and the middle brother followed, only to meet the same fate. Finally Childe Rowland went forth, having been given his father's sword, which never struck in vain, for protection. Merlin gave him his orders: he must chop off the head of anyone in
Rowland, forgetting Merlin's words, was overcome with hunger and asked his sister for food. Unable to warn him, she complied. At the last moment, Merlin's words returned to Rowland and he threw down the food, upon which the King of Elfland burst into the hall. Rowland fought with the King, and with the aid of his father's sword beat him into submission. The King begged for mercy, and Rowland granted it, provided his siblings were released. They returned home together, and Burd Ellen never circled the church widdershins again.
In the version given by
History
Joseph Jacobs's version was based on that of Robert Jamieson in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, published in 1814. Jamieson had heard it from a tailor.[3]
Jamieson compared the narrative to the Danish ballads about Rosmer Halfmand from the 1695 work Kaempe Viser. There were three ballads about Rosmer, who was a giant or merman, stealing a girl whose brother later rescues her. In the first, the characters are the children of Lady Hillers of Denmark, and the sister is named Svanè.[4] In the second, the main characters are Roland and Proud Eline lyle. In the third, the hero is Child Aller, son of the king of Iceland. Unlike the English Roland, the hero of the Danish ballads relies on trickery to rescue his sister, and in some versions they have an incestuous relationship.[5]
Jamieson also compared the story to the ballad of "The Merman and Marstig's Daughter," where a merman steals a young woman from a church.[6] Other narratives where brothers seek a missing sister are The Old Wives' Tale and Milton's Comus.[7][8]
Cultural influences
Jacobs's version is predated by the "Childe Rowland" reference in King Lear, and by Robert Browning's 1855 poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. Browning's poem has inspired other works such as Gordon R. Dickson's unfinished science fiction series Childe Cycle (1959) and Stephen King's Dark Tower series.
Jacobs's tale may itself have been the inspiration for a number of modern works, but it is difficult to distinguish this from the reception of Browning's poem.[clarification needed]
- Lord Dunsany's 1924 novel The King of Elfland's Daughter shares many similarities with the story.
- Louis MacNeice wrote a radio play, The Dark Tower, based on the Childe Rowland story. The play was first broadcast on the BBC Home Service (now Radio 4) on 26 January 1946. The original music was composed by Benjamin Britten.
- Alan Garner drew heavily on the tale for his novel Elidor (1965), using it as the start of his story.
- Andre Norton retold the fairy tale in her novel Warlock of the Witch World (1967).
- English Out of the Cut.
- Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men (2003) introduces a character named Roland de Chumsfanleigh, who is kidnapped by the Queen of the Elves.
In subsequent culture
The story of Childe Roland is given prominence in Harper Lee's second book, Go Set a Watchman, in which 26-year-old "Scout" seeks to understand a Victorian scholar, her Uncle Jack, regarding the South's status in the 1950s.
See also
References
- ^ Briggs, Katharine (1970). A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language, Incorporating the F. J. Norton Collection. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 37.
- ^ Uther, Hans-Jorg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and a Bibliography. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
- ^ Jamieson, Robert (1814). Illustrations of Northern Antiquities. J. Ballantyne and Company. pp. 403
- ^ Jamieson, Robert (1806). Popular Ballads and Songs, Volume 2. A. Constable and Company. pp. 202-209.
- ^ Jamieson, Robert (1814). Illustrations of Northern Antiquities. J. Ballantyne and Company. pp. 397-419.
- ^ Jamieson, Robert (1806). Popular Ballads and Songs, Volume 1. A. Constable and Company. p. 210.
- ^ Jacobs, Joseph (1891). "Childe Rowland". Folk-Lore. 2 (II): 182.
- ISBN 9781136551802.
Bibliography
- MacNeice, Louis (2008). The Dark Tower and Other Radio Scripts. Faber Finds. ISBN 978-0-571-24341-9.
- ISBN 978-0-8112-1747-7.