Brewer's: Rowland

(See Roland.)

Childe Rowland.
Youngest brother of the “fair burd Helen.” Guided by Merlin, he undertook to bring back his sister from Elf-land, whither the fairies had carried her, and succeeded in his perilous exploit. (Ancient Scotch ballad.
Childe Rowland to the dark tower came; His word was still `Fie, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of a Britishman.' 

Shakespeare: King Lear, iii. 4.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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