The writer was walking all alone when he heard the twa corbies talking. How was the writer able to understand the language of the corbies?(Omniscient Narrator) One of the corbies inquires of the other where they shall have a feast. Probably it is the female Corby inquiring of the male Corby.
We learn from one of the corbies that a knight has recently been killed and nobody knows that he lies there but his hawk, his hound and his lady fair. This simply means that one of these characters killed the knight since they are the only ones who know where the slain knight lies and the corby speaking was the only witness to the event. Among these three characters it is the lady fair that has the highest chance to have killed the Knight, possibly through poison and not necessarily killing him in single combat during a duel or in fencing unless she was better than him in swordsmanship which is rather doubtful as he was a knight and also because women where discouraged from such sport.
We learn that his hound and his hawk are about their daily or normal activities while the lady fair has gone for another mate, thus the Corby speaking assures his mate not to worry that someone might discover the body and if I might add move it elsewhere or even worse burry it. The Corby speaking says this because the only person who can talk –the lady fair----and inform others of the tragedy has no intentions of doing so
We learn of the plans the corbies have concerning the dead knight
We learn that some where people are crying for his return but then none of them knows where he is and neither are they going to recognise him when the corbies have finished ripping out all of his flesh and leaving his mere bones bare to the wind.
3 comments:
Twa=3, there are three ravens, they are not partners like man and wife they are a gang. The narrator or storyteller is obviously a being in touch with the natural world. May be a male or female of the forest, an observer, perhaps a healer of some kind--these folks are usually keen to observe these things and listen to the unseen forces of the natural world. The corbies are a family or a gang. If you have ever observed blackbirds, they travel in packs or gangs--grackles, ravens, crows. They are seeking out their daily meal, that is their work each day in order to sustain and survive. What is interesting about this song/story, is that the storyteller notes that no one cares that the knight lies dead particularly--the song is about the useless loss of war, and the natural moving on --at a deeper level--and how no one gains in war, we all lose--as we all return to nature and are eaten by the ravens, crows, corbies regardless. I recently learned this song, it's origin, and I appreciate the wisdom within-so I like to sing it.
Twa=2
I agree, 'twa' is Scots for 'two'. The song is certainly not about war, and it is not true that no one cares that the knight lies dead. The last verse tells us that many people are moaning because they've lost the knight, but they can't do anything about it because they don't know where the corpse is (it adds that the wind will blow for evermore over the knight's white bones). No, this is a song about a murder, and the murderess getting away with it. Did 'his lady fair' persuade the knight to go behind the turf dyke before dispatching him (by stabbing him, or poisoning him, or whatever)? Or did she kill him elsewhere, and drag the body there? Or did she hire an assassin to kill him, and conceal his body, before she killed the assassin to cover her tracks? All plausible explanations, I think you'll agree.
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