Jock Sheep

DESCRIPTION: A lady asks a knight not to lie with her "for spoilin' o' my goun." She asks that he take her to her father's castle first. Once there she shuts the door in his face. Disguised as a lady in labor the knight lures her out and rapes her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Jock Sheep, a knight, and a lady set a tryst but she asks him not to lie with her "for spoilin' o' my goun." She asks that he take her to her father's castle where "ye shall hae your wills o' me." Once there she shuts the door in his face. Then she taunts him by comparing him to a marigold, and impotent cock and impotent stallion. He disguises himself as a lady in labor in the wood. When his lady goes to "her" aid she finds Jock. He rapes her, repeating her taunts. She asks that "sin you've taen your wills o' me You may conduct me hame." He does.
KEYWORDS: seduction escape trick knight rape disguise
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kinloch-TheBalladBook V, pp. 17-21, "Jock Sheep" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan2 302, "Jock Sheep" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
DT JOCKSHEP
Roud #5862
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Baffled Knight [Child 112]" (plot)
cf. "The Broomfield Hill [Child 43]" (first verse)
cf. "Errol on the Green" (tune, according to Greig/Duncan2)
cf. "The Three Butchers (Dixon and Johnson) [Laws L4]" (motif: "damsel in distress" as lure)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Whistle o' Yer Thoom
NOTES [241 words]: Child notes to 112, "The Baffled Knight": "There is a Scottish ballad in which the tables are turned upon the maid in the conclusion. This being of comparatively recent, and not of popular, but of low literary origin, cannot be admitted here. It can be found in Kinloch's Ballad Book, 'Jock Sheep,' p. 16, and the Kinloch MSS, I, 229, communicated by James Beattie, Mearnsshire. Other versions are, in the Campbell MSS, 'Dernie Hughie,' II, 233; 'Jock Sheep, or, The Maiden Outwitted,' Buchan MSS, I, 155."
The first verse of Kinloch matches "The Broomfield Hill," Child 43A and Child 43C, which sets a different tone than Child 112: here Jock and the lady set the tryst; in Child 112 (as in other Child 43 versions) the meeting is not planned. What is not clear here is why the lady changes her mind; the lady's dilemna described in "The Broomfield Hill" is not stated here.
The version of Child 112 closest to "Jock Sheep" is version D.b. The taunts -- the marigold, impotent cock and shy stallion -- are only in that version of Child 112. In other versions of "Jock Sheep" references to an impotent bull and ram are added to the list (for example, Greig-Duncan).
The non-fragmentary text from Greig/Duncan2 preserves the "Jock Sheep" characteristic of taking its first verse from Child 43, "The Broomfield Hill." Greig/Duncan2 notes that "Jock Sheep," as a result, had "formerly been treated in print as versions of this ballad [Child 43]." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: C112A

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography