Cockaigne, Land of

The Land of Cockaigne is an imaginary land of luxury and idleness where all physical pleasures, especially those of food and drink, are freely available. It is especially celebrated in works of the Middle Ages, when everyday life was hard and lacking in comforts. These works describe Cockaigne as having rivers of wine, streets paved with pastry, and shops that give their goods away for nothing. The name Cockaigne (or cocagne in French) is probably related to the word cake.

Many writers identified London as the Land of Cockaigne, which may have led to the use of the word cockney to refer to some inhabitants of London. An English poet of the 1200s made fun of the

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idea of Cockaigne in "The Land of Cockaygne," a poem about the life of monks. Other cultures have stories of similar lands, such as the German Schlaraffenland, or Lazy-Ape Land.