Johnie Cock (also Johnny O'Breadisley or Jock o' Braidislee) is a traditional Scottish folk ballad, listed as the 114th

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 '' ...

and number 69 in the

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

Synopsis

Johnie Cock is warned by his mother that he is in danger but nevertheless goes

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

and kills a deer. He feeds his dogs and sleeps in the woods. A man (sometimes a

palmer Palmer may refer to: People and fictional characters * Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land * Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Palmer (surname), including a list of people and ...

, a medieval European pilgrim to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

) betrays him to foresters, who attack him while he sleeps. Johnie wakes. Either he or his nephew rebukes them for the attack, in most variants saying that even a wolf would not have attacked him like that. In most variants, he fights and kills all of his assailants but one, whom he wounds. In several versions, he dies of his wounds while still in the wood. In one variant, he is laid low, and the king sends him a pardon.

Recordings

Many recordings made by in the 1930s by

James Madison Carpenter James Madison Carpenter, born in 1888 in Blacklands, Mississippi, near Booneville, in Prentiss County, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the U ...

of traditional

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

singers can be heard on the

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodical ...

website, including versions by

Bell Duncan Bell Duncan (8 August 1849 – 5 January 1934), also known as Isobel, Isabella and Elizabeth, was a traditional singer from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. She was born in Forgue, Aberdeenshire in 1849, to George Duncan (1814-1903) a farmer, and Jane Du ...

Ythan Wells Ythan Wells, also known as Glenmailen, is the site of a Roman military camp, near the farm of Glenmellan, east of the village of Ythanwells in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site is a designated scheduled monument. Traces of two marching cam ...

and

John Strachan John Strachan (; 12 April 1778 – 1 November 1867) was a notable figure in Upper Canada and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto. He is best known as a political bishop who held many government positions and promoted education from common sch ...

Fyvie Fyvie is a village in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Geography Fyvie lies alongside the River Ythan and is on the A947 road. Architecture What in 1990, at least, was a Clydesdale Bank was built in 1866 by James Matthews. The ...

(who was later recorded singing the song by

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...

Duncan Williamson Duncan James Williamson (11 April 1928, Loch Fyneside, near Furnace, Argyll - 8 November 2007) was a Scottish storyteller and singer, and a member of the Scottish Traveller community. The Scottish poet and scholar Hamish Henderson once refe ...

also sang a traditional version, as did

Gordeanna McCulloch The Clutha were a traditional Scotland, Scottish band hailing from Glasgow, that released a small number of albums in the 1970s. The line-up on the Clutha's first album, ''Scotia'' (1971), was John Eaglesham (vocal, concertina), Erlend Voy (fid ...

References

Child Ballads Year of song unknown {{folk-song-stub