It is sometimes referred to as the "lost ballad" since the only certain remaining of it is the famous verse "Wha daur meddle wi me ?".
[3] The ballad asserts Elliot's prowess in battle and contains the famous refrain "My name is Little Jock Elliot, and wha daur meddle wi' me!," which has traditionally been offered as one possible source for the origins of the Latin motto of the Order of the Thistle, "Nemo me impune lacessit".
This wounding of Bothwell apparently also led to Mary, Queen of Scots life being endangered.
On her way to see Bothwell, she almost perished in a mire, and subsequent to her strenuous ride (fifty miles in a single day), she became extremely ill, apparently with pneumonia.
The wounding of Bothwell by John Elliot of Park is mentioned in the Scottish chronicle called the Diurnal of Occurrents.