Twa Corbies
This Saturday I'm planning to go to this event:
http://www.midrealm.org/gwyntarian/isles.html
They're having a bardic competition with four categories: Verbal (Storytelling), musical (singing), theatrical (magic), and something from or concerning the British Isles. I realized that I already have all four areas covered with material I already know, so I decided that a) I need to go to this event, and b) I was going to learn a new song. I settled on "Twa Corbies," a delightful Scottish ballad about two ravens who chow down on a murdered knight.
"Um, Kateryn," you say, "why do you want to learn such a grim and twisted song?" (Well, if you know me, you probably won't be wondering that, but it's a cool rhetorical device, so I'm using it.)
The first reason is that "Twa Corbies," unlike the more uplifting English version "Three Ravens," is actually in my range. But as I was practicing it, it dawned on me that this ballad is actually anti-hunting propaganda.
Consider this stanza:
"The hound is tae a-hunting gane.
The hawk tae fetch the wild fowl hame.
His lemman hath ta'en anither mate-o.
So we may mak our dinner sweet-o.
So we may mak our dinner sweet."
The "new slain knight" was hunting when he was murdered. Why else would he have his hunting dog and hawk with him? It's telling that the hound and hawk don't stick around to protect him from being eaten by ravens - they'd rather be off slaying other animals. Furthermore, the knight had been plotting to kill and eat animals, including birds ("wild fowl"), so is it not simple justice that he in turn should be eaten by birds?
A cautionary tale for hunters everywhere. (All right, that's probably not what the author had in mind, but I like my take on it better than the traditional reading of it that says women are the cause of the downfall of man.)
http://www.midrealm.org/gwyntarian/isles.html
They're having a bardic competition with four categories: Verbal (Storytelling), musical (singing), theatrical (magic), and something from or concerning the British Isles. I realized that I already have all four areas covered with material I already know, so I decided that a) I need to go to this event, and b) I was going to learn a new song. I settled on "Twa Corbies," a delightful Scottish ballad about two ravens who chow down on a murdered knight.
"Um, Kateryn," you say, "why do you want to learn such a grim and twisted song?" (Well, if you know me, you probably won't be wondering that, but it's a cool rhetorical device, so I'm using it.)
The first reason is that "Twa Corbies," unlike the more uplifting English version "Three Ravens," is actually in my range. But as I was practicing it, it dawned on me that this ballad is actually anti-hunting propaganda.
Consider this stanza:
"The hound is tae a-hunting gane.
The hawk tae fetch the wild fowl hame.
His lemman hath ta'en anither mate-o.
So we may mak our dinner sweet-o.
So we may mak our dinner sweet."
The "new slain knight" was hunting when he was murdered. Why else would he have his hunting dog and hawk with him? It's telling that the hound and hawk don't stick around to protect him from being eaten by ravens - they'd rather be off slaying other animals. Furthermore, the knight had been plotting to kill and eat animals, including birds ("wild fowl"), so is it not simple justice that he in turn should be eaten by birds?
A cautionary tale for hunters everywhere. (All right, that's probably not what the author had in mind, but I like my take on it better than the traditional reading of it that says women are the cause of the downfall of man.)