Twa Corbies 2

As I was walking all alane
I heard twa corbies makin' mane
And one ontae the other did say
Where will we gang and dine the day
Where will we gang and dine the day

In ahind yon oul fail dyke
I wot there lies a new slain knight
Naebody kens that he lies there
But his hawk and hound and his lady fair
His hawk and hound and his lady fair

His hawk is tae the hunting gane
His hound to bring a wild fowl hane
His wife has taken another mate
So we can make our dinner sweet
We can make our dinner sweet
And you can sit on his white breast bone
And I'll pick out his bonny blue e'en
And with a lock of his yellow hair
We'll theek our nest when it grows bare *
We'll theek our nest when it grows bare

And many's a one for him makes mane
Naebody kens where he has gane
Through his white bones when they grow bare
The wind shall blow forever mare
The wind shall blow forever mare

* theek=feather our nest

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Child #26

recorded by Steeleye Span on "Hark! The Village Wait"(1970) and by the Sands
Family on "The Third Day"(1974). Lyrics from the insert of the Sands LP.
This is a version of "The Three Ravens", a song which goes back to the
13th century at least, and was collected (and probably reworked) by Sir
Walter Scott in "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border", III, 239, ed. 1803.
It is set to the tune "A la larc" from Brittany. MJ

MJ