My true love is obviously wealthy, I hope I am!
On the twelfth day of Christmas, I will have accumulated:
12 Drummers Drumming
22 Pipers Piping
30 Lords a Leaping
36 Ladies Waiting
40 Maids a Milking
42 Swans a Swimming
42 Geese a Laying
40 Golden Rings
36 Calling Birds
30 French Hens
22 Turtle Doves
12 Partridges in Pear Trees
With 34 drummers and pipers, you have enough for a good band, presuming that they're pretty good, so they can probably earn their keep. Add some electric guitars and you have the Red Hot Chili Pipers (a real band). Housing would be an issue. The lords can probably be ransomed back to their families, likewise the ladies in waiting, though maybe they came from a not-so-wealthy underclass. The maids presumably come with the cows that they're milking, so the question is whether 40 cows would produce enough dairy products to pay for their needs or are they going to be a net loss, plus housing for the maids and barns for the cows, we'll ignore the distribution problems but maybe the drummers and pipers can handle that during the off-season, which would give plenty of time for the cheese to mature. I'm not sure if swans lay eggs, the geese are obviously doing so, so that's probably a net profit, but maybe not initially. The golden rings are easily sold or given away as gifts. With 100 calling birds, French hens, turtle doves, and partridges: I think you have a fairly well-stocked larder if they're butchered and preserved properly, and the twelve pear trees would be a nice starter orchard. Maybe start a bed & breakfast, which would put the maids to further utility. You might get desperate for new fowl and pear recipes after awhile, but if the B&B makes money, you're probably good.
So assuming royalties on performances and recordings from the band, at least from Scotland and the renaissance festival circuit, decent ransoms from the lords and ladies, I think this would be a profitable venture if you had enough acreage to house it all. In fact, if the lords are particularly acrobatic, you might be able to also package them for a ren fest act, assuming a few weren't wanted back by their families, which is likely. It would probably be best to keep the lords away as much as possible: 30 lords would lead to a lot of scheming and rebellion, it would just not be worth the trouble.
12 Drummers Drumming
22 Pipers Piping
30 Lords a Leaping
36 Ladies Waiting
40 Maids a Milking
42 Swans a Swimming
42 Geese a Laying
40 Golden Rings
36 Calling Birds
30 French Hens
22 Turtle Doves
12 Partridges in Pear Trees
With 34 drummers and pipers, you have enough for a good band, presuming that they're pretty good, so they can probably earn their keep. Add some electric guitars and you have the Red Hot Chili Pipers (a real band). Housing would be an issue. The lords can probably be ransomed back to their families, likewise the ladies in waiting, though maybe they came from a not-so-wealthy underclass. The maids presumably come with the cows that they're milking, so the question is whether 40 cows would produce enough dairy products to pay for their needs or are they going to be a net loss, plus housing for the maids and barns for the cows, we'll ignore the distribution problems but maybe the drummers and pipers can handle that during the off-season, which would give plenty of time for the cheese to mature. I'm not sure if swans lay eggs, the geese are obviously doing so, so that's probably a net profit, but maybe not initially. The golden rings are easily sold or given away as gifts. With 100 calling birds, French hens, turtle doves, and partridges: I think you have a fairly well-stocked larder if they're butchered and preserved properly, and the twelve pear trees would be a nice starter orchard. Maybe start a bed & breakfast, which would put the maids to further utility. You might get desperate for new fowl and pear recipes after awhile, but if the B&B makes money, you're probably good.
So assuming royalties on performances and recordings from the band, at least from Scotland and the renaissance festival circuit, decent ransoms from the lords and ladies, I think this would be a profitable venture if you had enough acreage to house it all. In fact, if the lords are particularly acrobatic, you might be able to also package them for a ren fest act, assuming a few weren't wanted back by their families, which is likely. It would probably be best to keep the lords away as much as possible: 30 lords would lead to a lot of scheming and rebellion, it would just not be worth the trouble.