A son of Arthur according to a Scottish ballad.
When his sister, Ellen, disappeared, Merlin claimed the fairies had taken her. The eldest of her brothers went to search for her, but failed to follow Merlin’s instructions and vanished. The same happened to the next brother.
Rowland, however, followed Merlin’s instructions and slaughtered each person he met after he entered the fairy realm. He then went inside a hill where there was a hall in which he found Ellen together with his two entranced brothers. Rowland defeated the King of Elfland in combat and secured the release of the prisoners.
In the ballad Childe Rowland, Rowland is called childe, signifying an upper-class young man. A quotation from a ballad about Rowland occurs in King Lear.