> The Watersons > Songs > Herod and the Cock

Herod and the Cock

[Trad. arr. Watersons]

This was sung by the Watersons (Lal, Mike and Norma Waterson and John Harrison) on their 1965 LP Frost and Fire and reissued on CD in 1990 and 2007. It was also reissued on the Topic CD sampler The Season Round. A live version from a Christmas radio programme recorded in December 1980 at Crathorne Hall, Crathorne, North Yorkshire, was published in 2005 on the CD A Yorkshire Christmas.

A.L. Lloyd commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

A ballad carol, thirty verses long, told of two birds, a crow and a crane (see also Child #55, The Carnal and the Crane), conversing about the story of the Nativity and Herod's attempt to kill the miraculous baby. Herod and the Cock deals with one incident in this ballad, that has broken away to lead a life of its own in the form of a short carol. It is based on a legend of St. Stephen who proves the birth of Christ by causing the roast chicken in Herod's dish to rise and crow “Christus natus est” (Stephen is stoned for his pains). The story seems to have come into Europe from the Orient, and spread through Byzantium and Russia into Scandinavia and north-western Europe. The West Midlands--great carol country--seems to have harboured both the long and short forms of the song. Cecil Sharp obtained this version from Worcestershire.

Compare to this King Herod and the Cock sung by John Kirkpatrick et al. on the CD Wassail! A Traditional Celebration of an English Midwinter.

Lyrics

Herod and the Cock

There was a star in David's land,
In David's land appeared;
And in king Herod's bedroom
So bright it did shine there.

The Wise Men they soon spied it,
They told the king on high,
That a princely babe was born that night,
No man could ever destroy.

If this be true, king Herod said,
That you being telling me,
This roasted fowl that's in the dish
Shall crow full fences three.*

Well the fowl soon feathered and thrustened well,
By the work of God's own hands,
Three times that roasted cock did crow
In the dish where he did stand.

*“Fences” is a metonym for the fields they contain, ie. the cock's crow would be heard three fields away (in Garry Gillard's opinion)

King Pharim

This is a related song, from the Digital Tradition, at :

King Pharim sat a-musing
And a-musing all alone.
There came a blessed Savior
And all to him unknown.

Saying, “Where did you come from good man,
And where did you then pass?”
“It was out of the land of Egypt,
Between an ox and ass.”

“Well if you've come out of Egypt, man,
One thing I fain would know.
Whether a blessed Savior
Sprang from a Holy Ghost.

For if it is true, is true, good man,
What you've been telling me,
This roasted cock, that's in the dish,
Shall crow full fences three.”

Well the cock soon feathered and he grew soon well,
By the work of God's own hand.
Three times that roasted cock did crow
In the dish where he did stand.

Joseph, Jesus, and Mary
Were traveling further West
When Mary grew a-tired,
She might sit down and rest.

They traveled further and further,
The weather being so warm,
Until they came upon a husbandman
A-sowing of his corn.

“Come husbandman,” cried Jesus,
“Throw all your seed away
And carry home your ripened corn,
That you've been sowing this day.”

By there came King Herod,
With his train so furiously,
Inquiring of the husbandman
Whether Jesus had passed by.

Well the truth it must be spoken,
And the truth it must be known.
For Jesus he passed by this way
Just as my seed was sown.

But now I have it ripened
And some laid in my wain
Ready to fetch and carry
Into my barn again.

“Turn back then,” said the captain.
“Our labors all in vain.
Tis full three quarters of the year
Since he his seed has sown.”

So Herod was deceived
By the work of God's own hand.
No further he proceeded
Into the Holy Land.

Acknowledgements

Herod and the Cock was transcribed from the singing of the Watersons by Wolfgang Hell.