Dick o the Cow is Child ballad 185 and a border ballad

Border ballad

The English/Scottish border has a long and bloody history of conquest and reconquest, raid and counter-raid . It also has a stellar tradition of balladry, such that a whole group of songs exists that are often called "border ballads", because they were collected in that region.Border ballads, like...

. Unusually for that genre, its hero is not the outlaw.

Synopsis

John Armstrang raids England, but finds only six sheep, which would humiliate him to steal. He asks his companion, Billie, about a man they met; Billie says that he's a simpleton, named Dick o the Cow. They steal his three cows.

Dick gets permission from his lord to go to Liddesdaile for revenge. There, they taunt him. He steals two horses. John chases after him, on horseback, and they fight. Dick fells him and now has three horses. He sells one horse for money and a good milk cow. With his lord's leave, he moves to avoid the Armstrongs.

External links

• Dick o the Cow