Rose
Rose is a haunting set of five songs, the tale of a young woman's life. Rose tells of her impending marriage. In Jack, the next song , she defies her parents, vowing to "be a fiddler's wife." Her marriage is described in Ding Dong. Unfortunately, with her marriage to the fiddler came poverty - "Heigh Ho, nobody's home." There is some debate over the meaning of the final song in the sequence, Ah Poor Bird - some believe that it talks about Rose after her death, her spirit unable to rest; others think it simply continues the description of her empoverished life, perhaps including her shame at being in her position.
Peace is not necessarily a part of the sequence, but it has the same general tune, and it is possible that it is in reference to the king mentioned in the first song, (if that is what "sire" refers to).
Each of these songs is beautiful on its own, and all can be sung as rounds. Also beautiful, though more complicated, is when the entire sequence is sung as a round, with different portions of the group singing different of the songs. (For smaller groups, two or three of the songs can be used; for a larger group, all could be attempted.) This series of songs can also be taught one at a time over a period of time.