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

It recounts the birth of Robin Hood

Robin Hood

Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....

, but is not part of the Robin Hood cycle; Francis James Child

Francis James Child

Francis James Child was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of folk songs known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry...

 rejected the title The Birth of Robin Hood for it on those grounds.

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 Douglas Dale

-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 child and reach his father's lands.-Motifs:...

and Leesome Brand

Leesome Brand

-Synopsis:Leesome Brand went to court when 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 her. They headed to his mother's house, but she went into labour on the way...

.