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<\/a>The Twa Corbies by Arthur Rackham circa 1919<\/p><\/div>Sometime between the 16th and 19th century, the English ballad \u201cThe Three Ravens\u201d evolved into the Scottish ballad \u201cTwa Corbies\u201d (Two Ravens). \u201cThe Three Ravens\u201d was first printed in a song book compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft in 1611 but it is perhaps much older than that. Written in the Scots language, the ballad “Twa Corbies” first appeared in correspondence dated 1802, which indicates that it came from the recitation of an old woman at Alva, a small town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. <\/p>\n
\u201cTwa Corbies\u201d is invariably sung in the Scots parlance of the time. The use of an \u201ca\u201d in many words would later be replaced by an \u201co\u201d : \u201ctwa\u201d became \u201ctwo\u201d, \u201calane\u201d became \u201calone\u201d and so on. The word \u201ccorbies\u201d obviously comes from the French \u201ccorbeaux\u201d (ravens). Here is a modern English translation of the lyrics to \u201cTwa Corbies\u201d :<\/p>\n
As I was walking all alone \/ I heard two ravens making noise
\nAnd one unto the other said \/ Where shall we go and dine today?
\nWhere shall we go and dine today?<\/p>\n
In behind that old sod wall \/ I know there lies a newly slain knight
\nAnd nobody knows that he lies there \/ But his hawk and his hound and his lady fair
\nHis hawk and his hound and his lady fair<\/p>\n
His hawk is gone to join the hunt \/ His hound to fetch a wildfowl home
\nHis lady has taken another mate \/ So we may make our dinner sweet
\nSo we may make our dinner sweet<\/p>\n
You’ll sit on his white neckbone \/ And I’ll peck out his pretty blue eyes
\nWith many a lock of his golden hair \/ We’ll line our nest when it grows bare
\nWe’ll line our nest when it grows bare<\/p>\n
Many a one for him do mourn \/ But none will know where he is gone
\nOver his white bones when they are bare \/ The wind shall blow for ever more
\nThe wind shall blow for ever more<\/p>\n