Johnny Cock- Doyle (VA) 1920 Stone/Davis
[From: Traditional Ballad of Virginia, Davis; 1929. His notes follow. This was the first version collected in North America.
R. Matteson 2015]
JOHNIE COCK
(Child, No. 114)
No other survival of this genuine old ballad has hitherto been found in America. This version of Mr. Stone and Mrs. Doyle is the only one discovered in Virginia. "On my way out of Highland County," writes Mr. Stone, November 3, 1920, " Mrs. Dever told me about the song which, from the foresters in it, I took to be 'The Douglas Tragedy' with its seven bold sons. I asked Mrs. Dever's little daughter to copy and send it to me, which she did. To my surprise I found it to be a new ballad."
The Virginia text is not quite complete, but it is in accord with the Child versions as to the primary points of the story. "A gallant young fellow, who Days no regard to the game-laws, goes out, despite his mother's entreaties, to ding the dun deer down. He kills a deer, and feasts himself and his dogs so freely on it that they all fall asleep. An old palmer, a silly auld, stane-auld
carl, observes him, and carries word to seven foresters. They beset Johnie and wound him; he kills all but one, and leaves that one, badly hurt, to carry tidings of the rest. Johnie sends a bird to his mother to bid her fetch him away . . . " The only significant additions of the Virginia version are that Johnny Cock blows a provocative blast upon his horn and rouses the seven
foresters, who are then directed to him by the silly old man; that Johnny Cock says that no wolf would be guilty of so dastardly an attack as theirs; that he throws the wounded seventh forester across his saddle to carry the tidings home; that the bird is sent not to his mother but to fair Eleanor's window.
The Virginia text has no very close resemblance to any Child text, and it must therefore be set down as a separate version. Perhaps its relation is closest to either A or B, with about an equal number of points of likeness to each and with differences from either. Buck and Bouncer, the two names given to three bloodhounds, would seem to be corruptions of "busk" and "boun," meaning to make ready, prepare. Compare the second stanza of Child D,
"Ye'll busk, ye'll busk my noble dogs,
Ye'll busk and mak them boun."
the opening line of the fragment, Child M, as sung by Carlyle's mother, "O busk ye, O busk ye, my three bluidy hounds."
"Come, Buck, come, Bouncer" would be a fairly natural modern interpretation of these two unfamiliar words. That the final stanza of this ballad is corrupted from "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor" is suggested with the more confidence since a variant of the last named ballad comes from the same family. Writes Mr. Stone, " Mrs. Dever's version of 'Lord Thomas and Fair
Eleanor' can be traced back to an old Scotchman in Highland County years ago. Possibly 'Johnny Cock' came from the same source." In its present form the final stanza does not quite make sense, and the text, like Child B-G, must be adjudged incomplete.
In contrast to the broadside texts of some of the Robin Hood ballads that follow, "Johnny Cock" is an excellent specimen of the unspoiled traditional ballad. The only reference to an American text would be to Bulletin, No. 8, p. 7, where this find was originally announced.
"Johnny Cock." Collected by Mr. John Stone and Miss Daisy Dever. Sung by Mrs. Acy Doyle. Highland County. November 3, 1920.
1. "Come, Buck, come, Bouncer,[1] my three bloodhounds,
For tomorrow we must go
Away to the Broadway Low
To hunt the buck and doe."
2. Johnny's mother heard him say so
. . . .
" My blessings on you Johnny," she said,
"Take counsel and stay at home.
3. " There are the seven foresters
In the Broadway Low,
And for three drops of thy heart's blood
Would dare three sobs to hell."
4. Johnny heard his mother say so,
Made him wondrous keen;
He threw off his robes of red
And put on a light Lincoln green.
5. Johnny saddled his steed
And his three bloodhounds at his command,
And a sheaf of arrows at his side
As he rode along the strand.
6. Johnny shot and the dun deer left,
. . . .
Till he came to the waters wide;
There he laid himself down to sleep.
7 First he drew out his fine bugle horn
And blew a blast of pride,
Which awoke six of the seven foresters
That lay by the hawthorn side.
8 Up jumped the seventh forester
And said, "That is a blast well blown.
Are there a man among you all
Can blow such as him?"
9. They rode over hills and vales
. . . .
Till they came to a silly old man,
By an ill death may he die.
10. "What news have you, old man, for me?
. . .
Or else by the sword that hangs by my side,
By the point you shall die."
11. . . .
No news have I for thee;
Only yonder lies the widow's fairest son
That ever my eyes could see."
12 They rode over hills
And mountains high
Till they came to the very spot
Where Johnny Cock did lie.
13 They bent three bows
And broad arrows did they let fly;
They wounded poor Johnny Cock
A little above the eye.
14 "Woe be to you, seven foresters,
That would do such a deed to I.
Is there a wolf in the Broadway Low
That would do such a deed to me? "
15. Johnny bent a bow
Bent of an ivory bone,
And shot among the seven foresters
And killed them all but one.
16. Besides he wounded the seventh forester
And broke his collar bone,
And threw him across his saddle
To carry the tidings home.
17. "Is there any pretty bird in the Broadway Low
That can whistle what I say,
That will go to fair Eleanor's[3] window
And take fair Johnny away?"
1. From head-note: Buck and Bouncer, the two names given to three bloodhounds, would seem to be corruptions of "busk" and "boun," meaning to make ready, prepare. Compare the second stanza of Child D,
"Ye'll busk, ye'll busk my noble dogs,
2 Possibly for leapt.
3. Corrupted from "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor."