nerd talk
I have decided that the #2 bus is the Harry Potter bus, because after two sightings of a man who looks eerily like Peter Pettigrew, today I spotted Seventh Year!Ron Weasley, which kind of made me see the appeal of Ron Weasley for the first time. I have a special spot in my heart for Percy (it's the spot I retain for nerds gone wild in general), and who doesn't love Bill and Charlie, but Ron, eh. But as it turns out, he is going to be HOT in seventh year. I kept staring at the poor guy trying to decide if he more closely resembled an older Weasley, but no, definitely Ron. Hot.
Singing in the shower after getting home from the gym, it occurred to me that while Loreena McKennitt's version of the sister-killing song has my favorite plot point in it ("He made harp strings of her golden hair / he made harp pins of her fingers fair ... he made a harp of her breastbone"), the other version that my sisters did in Irish Arts is really vastly more believable.
1. In the McKennitt version, the older sister OFFERS to pull the younger sister out of the river if she'll "give [her] [her] own true love." The younger sister REFUSES. The fuck? Dude, your word is not your bond if you give it to someone who just shoved your ass into a raging river. Just tell her she can HAVE him and later you can tell everyone that she tried to kill you.
In the "traditional" version (I don't have a source, okay?), the younger sister offers her boyfriend in return for being pulled out of the river; the older sister says "Screw that, I'll get him when you're dead," no doubt figuring that the younger sister might at some point in the future feel the urge to tell everyone that her older sister tried to kill her. Now that makes sense.
2. So the younger sister drowns and floats downstream. In the McKennitt version, a miller's daughter sees her in the millpond and shouts, "O father, o daddy, here swims a swan / It's very like a gentle woman." Then they lay her on the bank to dry. Now, if I were a hard-working miller who'd just had a dead gentlewoman turn up in my millpond, I might be less inclined to put the corpse where anyone might see it and connect it with me and my millpond. But that's just me.
In the "traditional" version, the miller pulls the corpse out of the river/millpond in order to remove her valuables. Then he pushes her in again WITHOUT alerting the authorities or making her body available to wandering harpers for parts. Sensible.
...I think I may list "the sister-killing song" as an interest. I imagine there's some better folk song archetype designation for it, but I don't know it.
Singing in the shower after getting home from the gym, it occurred to me that while Loreena McKennitt's version of the sister-killing song has my favorite plot point in it ("He made harp strings of her golden hair / he made harp pins of her fingers fair ... he made a harp of her breastbone"), the other version that my sisters did in Irish Arts is really vastly more believable.
1. In the McKennitt version, the older sister OFFERS to pull the younger sister out of the river if she'll "give [her] [her] own true love." The younger sister REFUSES. The fuck? Dude, your word is not your bond if you give it to someone who just shoved your ass into a raging river. Just tell her she can HAVE him and later you can tell everyone that she tried to kill you.
In the "traditional" version (I don't have a source, okay?), the younger sister offers her boyfriend in return for being pulled out of the river; the older sister says "Screw that, I'll get him when you're dead," no doubt figuring that the younger sister might at some point in the future feel the urge to tell everyone that her older sister tried to kill her. Now that makes sense.
2. So the younger sister drowns and floats downstream. In the McKennitt version, a miller's daughter sees her in the millpond and shouts, "O father, o daddy, here swims a swan / It's very like a gentle woman." Then they lay her on the bank to dry. Now, if I were a hard-working miller who'd just had a dead gentlewoman turn up in my millpond, I might be less inclined to put the corpse where anyone might see it and connect it with me and my millpond. But that's just me.
In the "traditional" version, the miller pulls the corpse out of the river/millpond in order to remove her valuables. Then he pushes her in again WITHOUT alerting the authorities or making her body available to wandering harpers for parts. Sensible.
...I think I may list "the sister-killing song" as an interest. I imagine there's some better folk song archetype designation for it, but I don't know it.