Jock of the Side or Jock O' the Side is a
Child Ballad
The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...
known as Child Balad 187, a
border ballad
Border ballads are a group of songs in the long tradition of balladry collected from the Anglo-Scottish border. Like all traditional ballads, they were traditionally sung unaccompanied. There may be a repeating motif, but there is no "chorus" as ...
, existing in several variants. It is part of the series of 305 traditional child ballads in England and Scotland. The rescue it depicts is recorded solely in popular tradition, although Jock of the Side himself appears to have existed.
Synopsis
A failed raid results in the capture of Jock of the Side.
Hobie Noble
Hobie Noble is Child ballad 189 and a border ballad
Border ballads are a group of songs in the long tradition of balladry collected from the Anglo-Scottish border. Like all traditional ballads, they were traditionally sung unaccompanied. There ...
—in some variants his illegitimate half-brother, and in some an outlawed Englishman—set out with few men to rescue him. They sneak into the castle, over the hall or by murdering the porter, and find and rescue him. They must carry him off in his chains, but they get him away. In some variant, once they have escaped by crossing a river, the former captor asks for the chains back, but the prisoner says he will use them to shoe horses.
See also
*
Archie o Cawfield
Archie o Cawfield, also known as "The Bold Archer", "The Bold Prisoner", or "The Escape of Old John Webb"", is an Anglo-Scottish border ballad
,''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads''; Vol. 3; by Francis James Child. Courier Dover Publication ...
External links
''Jock o the Side''
by Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
Child Ballads
Border ballads
Northumbrian folklore
Scottish outlaws
English outlaws
Year of song unknown
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