I'm trying to get the chronology of this straight in my mind.

As I'm understanding the above posts, the Alison Rutherford song came first and Jane/Jean Elliot -- with her memory of the tune -- then composed the later Flodden version.

Jack's post suggests to me that the (similar) early 17th century melody was such a potent 'ear-worm' that it was inevitable that it would be taken up by more than one writer. But I'd be interested to know how that melody was titled then.

Earlier today I was in the company of several people with a serious interest in ballads and I would make an educated guess that most of them would have read Alison Rutherford's verses and heard the rhyming/rhythmic pattern of 'The Floo'ers o the Forest'.

We should all be grateful for the creative efforts of past makars, and in this particular instance there seems to me to be a very special match between the clarity of Jean Elliot's text and the mood of the melody.

Don't know if this adds much to the discussion, but would like to record my appreciation for the reminder of how special this song is.