It was first published in Walter Scott's Minstrelsy in 1812. Child (I, 253) quotes a letter from Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe to Walter Scott (August 8, 1802): "The song of 'The Twa Corbies' was given to me by Miss Erskine of Alva (now Mrs Kerr), who, I think, said that she had written it down from the recitation of an old woman at Alva." which indicates it was already known in Scotland at that date. Written in the Scots language, there is no record of how early "The Twa Corbies" first performed. Howell-Baker, from his book Penholm (1901) God send euery gentleman, Such haukes, such hounds, and such a Leman.
The one of them said to his mate, Where shall we our breakfast take? Downe in yonder greene field, There lies a Knight slain under his shield, His hounds they lie downe at his feete, So well they can their Master keepe, His Hawkes they flie so eagerly, There's no fowle dare him come nie Downe there comes a fallow Doe, As great with yong as she might goe, She lift up his bloudy head, And kist his wounds that were so red, She got him up upon her backe, And carried him to earthen lake, She buried him before the prime, She was dead her self ere euen-song time. With a downe, derrie, derrie, derrie, downe, downe. There were three rauens sat on a tree, downe a downe, hay downe, hay downe, There were three rauens sat on a tree, with a downe, There were three rauens sat on a tree, They were as blacke as they might be. The refrains are sung in all stanzas, but they will only be shown for the first. The second method appears to be the more canonical, so that is what is illustrated below. They can be sung either straight through in stanzas of four lines each, or in stanzas of two lines each repeating the first line three times depending on how long the performer would like the ballad to last. The lyrics to "The Three Ravens" are here transcribed using 1611 orthography. The narrative ends with "God send euery gentleman / Such haukes, such hounds, and such a Leman". Furthermore, a "fallow doe", an obvious metaphor for the knight's pregnant ("as great with young as she might go") lover or mistress (see " leman") comes to his body, kisses his wounds, bears him away, and buries him, leaving the ravens without a meal. One tells of a newly slain knight, but they find he is guarded by his loyal hawks and hounds. The ballad takes the form of three scavenger birds conversing about where and what they should eat.
Francis James Child recorded several versions in his Child Ballads (catalogued as number 26). Newer versions (with different music) were recorded right up through the 19th century. " The Three Ravens" ( Roud 5, Child 26) is an English folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that. "The Twa Corbies", illustration by Arthur Rackham to Some British Ballads
0 kommentar(er)
