"The Twa Corbies", illustration by Arthur RackhamtoSome British Ballads
"The Three Ravens" (Roud5, Child26) is an English folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata[1] compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that. Newer versions (with different music) were recorded right up through the 19th century. Francis James Child recorded several versions in his Child Ballads (catalogued as number 26).
The ballad takes the form of three scavenger birds conversing about where and what they should eat. One tells of a newly slain knight, but they find he is guarded by his loyal hawks and hounds. 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. The narrative ends with "God send euery gentleman / Such haukes, such hounds, and such a Leman".
The lyrics to "The Three Ravens" are here transcribed using 1611 orthography. 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 second method appears to be the more canonical, so that is what is illustrated below. The refrains are sung in all stanzas, but they will only be shown for the first.
The Twa Corbies, illustration by G. Howell-Baker, from his book Penholm (1901)
Written in the Scots language, there is no record of how early "The Twa Corbies" first performed. 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. [2] It was first published in Walter Scott's Minstrelsy in 1803.
It has a more dark and cynical tone than the Three Ravens, from which its lyrics were clearly derived. There are only two scavengers in “The Twa Corbies”, but this is the least of the differences between the songs, though they do begin the same. Rather than commenting on the loyalty of the knight's beasts, the corbies tell that the hawk and the hound have forsaken their master, and are off chasing other game, while his mistress has already taken another lover. The ravens are therefore given an undisturbed meal, as nobody else knows where the man lies, or even that he is dead. They talk in gruesome detail about the meal they will make of him, plucking out his eyes and using his hair for their nests. Some themes believed to be portrayed in "Twa Corbies" are: the fragility of life, the idea life goes on after death, and a more pessimistic viewpoint on life. The loneliness and despair of the song are summed up in the final couplets;
O'er his banes [bones], when they are bare,
The wind sall [shall] blaw for evermair
There are a few different versions of this anonymously authored poem. The full text of at least one version of the poem is as follows:
The ballad was selected for use in the 2017 period film My Cousin Rachel, following a commission for a "dark" English folk tune sung at a Christmas feast for an early-1800s farmstead.[3]
A recording of the song features in the credits for the 2014 Channel 4 period drama New Worlds, which is set in England during the 1680s.
The song, in a version by John Harle, features in Simon Schama's A History of Britain, particularly in the episodes "The Body of the Queen", "The British Wars" and "The Two Winstons".
The Australian depressive rock band Expurgatory used the words from "Twa Corbies" in their song "Twa" from their compilation album "A lustrum" in 2018.[4]
Translations and adaptations in other languages[edit]
Both "The Three Ravens" and "Twa Corbies" have been translated to other languages, typically all sung to the same melody as Twa Corbies, or that of the Breton song called "An Alarc'h" ("The Swan").
Known versions include:
Danish: Ravnene (The Ravens), a translation of Twa Corbies (i.e. the cynical lyrics, sans the final stanza) by Danish folklorist Svend Grundtvig (1824–1883), and the band Svartsot plays a version named "De to Ravne" (2022)
Hebrew: שלושה בני עורב (Three sons of a raven), translated by Nathan Alterman, and a more popular translation שלושה עורבים (Three ravens) by Yaakov Shabtai.
Finnish: Kaksi korppia is a translation of "Twa Corbies" by Finnish band Tarujen Saari.
Frisian: De twa roeken, translated by Klaes Bruinsma, sung by Doede Veeman on his LP "Frustraasjebloes".
German: Die drei Raben, a quite literal translation of The Three Ravens, by Theodor Fontane (1819–1898). Die zwei Raben by the same author, is the best known German version of Twa Corbies.
The German medieval/rock crossover group Schelmish wrote a German version of The Three Ravens lyrics, also titled Rabenballade (Raven's Ballad).
Also, the German group Subway to Sally wrote the song Krähenfraß (Food for the Crows), also based on the Twa Corbies version and using a very similar melody, but with even more sinister lyrics. This version places the story in our times, replaces the knight with a soldier, and adds a new stanza in the end, loosely translating to "the bare bones will be clean / and preserved for a long time / and announce shining from the dirt / what a soldier's purpose is" (namely: the song title).
The German Neo-Medieval group Die Streuner has their own version titled "Rabenballade", with a rather emotional melody and cynical lyrics: Not only do the dogs stop guarding their master, they eat his flesh the next day. The falcons (not mentioned to be his own) are simply "no longer seen" and the maid "already that evening doesn't sleep alone".
The Czech folk music group Spirituál kvintet adapted the melody of The Three Ravens to record a song Válka růží[1]. However, the theme has been completely changed, as the new lyrics concerned the Wars of the Roses between Yorks and Lancasters.
The Czech folk music group Asonance adopted the Twa Corbies in very lyric translation, quite similar to original.
The Czech folk metal group Hakka Muggies used the tune in song Havrani (lit. Ravens). The lyrics however follow a story of two Scottish outlaw brothers, so the ravens are rather metaphorical.
The Czech group Ječmen playing Irish folk used the tune and text from Asonance to make a funny version about two chickens trying to survive after they've eaten all the barley and their master cannot make whisky.
Norwegian: Ravnene (The Ravens), a translation very similar to the Danish version. The Norwegian folk rock group Folque performed this song on their debut album, and used a tune very similar to Steeleye Span's version.
Russian: The great Russian poet Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin published in 1828 partial translation of the French translation of Sir Walter Scott's Border Poems. It includes the poem entitled『Шотландская песня』(Scottish Song), which has become known to almost every literate Russian-speaking person. Pushkin's translation contains only the first half of the poem, ending with "and the mistress awaits for her lover, not the killed one, but the alive one", thus making a dark hint the central point of the story. Many composers of the time wrote musical interpretations of the poem [2].
The Russian folk band Sherwood(in Russian) recorded a Russian-language version of Twa Corbies in their album "Sweet Joan" (2010) using their own translation.
Basque: Bi beleak is a translation of "Twa Corbies" from the Basque poet Jon Mirande, sung by the Basque singer Imanol Larzabal.
The Polish folk band Odpust Zupełny recorded a Polish-language version 'Ballada o dwóch krukach' (Ballad of two ravens).
^See Malcolm Douglas's post in the mudcat.org thread on the subject, which gives more detailed references.
^Roger Michell (Director) (29 August 2017). "Audio commentary by Roger Michell and Kevin Loader". My Cousin Rachel (DVD). United Kingdom: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. 46 minutes in. And the song that we commissioned I wanted to be dark and not playful. And our musical director, ... Neill MacColl, did a marvellous job ... in helping select that old English folk tune ...
