The story is a dramatization of a traditional genre of medieval French song, the pastourelle.This genre typically tells of an encounter between a knight and a shepherdess, frequently named Marion. Adam de la Halle's version of the story places a greater emphasis on the activities of Marion, her lover Robin and their friends after she resists the knight's advances.It consists of dialogue in the old Picardian dialect of Adam's home town, Arras, interspersed with short refrains or songs in a style which might be considered popular.The melodies to which these are set have the character of folk music, and seem more spontaneous than the author's more elaborate songs and motets. Two of these melodies in fact appear in the motets, Mout me fu gries de departir/Robin m'aime, Robin m'a/Portare and En mai, quant rosier sont flouri/L'autre jour, par un matin/He, resvelle toi Robin. The attribution of these motets to Adam is unconfirmed.