Swan story
May. 7th, 2006 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
secret_historyI don't have a proper title for this story yet, but since I've been doing some more writing on it, I thought I would post another little wordcount meter and maybe do some nattering about it to get things straightened out in my head.
So:
Right now I'm at the point of change. That's where the story begins every time, right? I know what the point of change is, what's going to cause the crisis, and even what that crisis will be. After that, though, things get a little hazy.
I got the idea for this story from a song. I blame![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
owldaughter, toughlovemuse, ai731 and karine, not necessarily in that order. I don't know who suggested "Bonny Swans" as a song for my band to cover, but whoever it was, I blame them most of all. I'll post the lyrics here so that you know what I'm talking about.
The Bonny Swans
A farmer there lived in the north country
A hey ho bonny o
And he had daughters one, two, three
The swans swim so bonny o
His daughters they walked by the river's brim
A hey ho bonny o
The eldest pushed the youngest in
The swans swim so bonny o
Oh sister, oh sister, pray lend me your hand
With a hey ho a bonny o
And I will give you house and land
The swans swim so bonny o
I'll give you neither hand nor glove
With a hey ho a bonny o
Unless you give me your own true love
The swans swim so bonny o
Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam
With a hey ho and a bonny o
Until she came to a miller's dam
The swans swim so bonny o
The miller's daughter, dressed in red
With a hey ho and a bonny o
She went for some water to make some bread
The swans swim so bonny o
Oh father, oh daddy, here swims a swan
With a hey ho and a bonny o
It's very like a gentle woman
The swans swim so bonny o
They placed her on the bank to dry
With a hey ho and a bonny o
There came a harper passing by
The swans swim so bonny o
He made harp pins of her fingers fair
With a hey ho and a bonny o
He made harp strings of her golden hair
the swans swim so bonny o
He made a harp of her breast bone
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And straight it began to play alone
The swans swim so bonny o
He brought it to her father's hall
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And there was the court, assembled all
The swans swim so bonny o
He laid the harp upon a stone
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And straight it began to play alone
The swans swim so bonny o
And there does sit my father the King
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And yonder sits my mother the Queen
The swans swim so bonny o
And there does sit my brother Hugh
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And by him William, sweet and true
The swans swim so bonny o
And there does sit my false sister, Anne
With a hey ho and a bonny o
Who drowned me for the sake of a man
The swans swim so bonny o
--Loreena McKennitt
Okay, now that that's out of the way, you know a little more about this story. See, the song raised more questions in my head than it answered. How did the sisters' father go from being a farmer to a king by the end of the song? Why did the youngest sister find a young man before the eldest? As I understand it, betrothals and so forth usually went by order of age. I'd like to know who William and Hugh are. There's no mention of a brother at the beginning of the song. How did the girl turn into a swan anyway?
Clearly there's a great deal of magic, or something, afoot in this story. So I'm going to filch the story and try to answer all the questions rattling around inside my head. The song makes no mention of what happens to the middle sister. She's not important to the story, it would seem. I beg to differ. I have often found that middle children are ignored, to the detriment of everyone.
So this book will be the story of the middle sister. Her youngest sister falls in love and then gets murdered by the eldest sister, who we must believe is in love with the same man. I am loath to think that the story is as simple as that, nor that it can simply end with the murderess being revealed in court to her doom. It doesn't entirely fit, as far as I'm concerned.
I already have a number of ideas about the facts that don't fit in the story. My main concern now is what to do with the middle sister. The book is her story, about her quest to find what happened to her younger sister and to try and save her older sister from her fate. I'm just not sure what she's going to find at the end. Sometimes, quests don't work out the way we expect them to.
So:
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3,657 / 150,000 (2.0%) |
Right now I'm at the point of change. That's where the story begins every time, right? I know what the point of change is, what's going to cause the crisis, and even what that crisis will be. After that, though, things get a little hazy.
I got the idea for this story from a song. I blame
owldaughter, toughlovemuse, ai731 and karine, not necessarily in that order. I don't know who suggested "Bonny Swans" as a song for my band to cover, but whoever it was, I blame them most of all. I'll post the lyrics here so that you know what I'm talking about.The Bonny Swans
A farmer there lived in the north country
A hey ho bonny o
And he had daughters one, two, three
The swans swim so bonny o
His daughters they walked by the river's brim
A hey ho bonny o
The eldest pushed the youngest in
The swans swim so bonny o
Oh sister, oh sister, pray lend me your hand
With a hey ho a bonny o
And I will give you house and land
The swans swim so bonny o
I'll give you neither hand nor glove
With a hey ho a bonny o
Unless you give me your own true love
The swans swim so bonny o
Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam
With a hey ho and a bonny o
Until she came to a miller's dam
The swans swim so bonny o
The miller's daughter, dressed in red
With a hey ho and a bonny o
She went for some water to make some bread
The swans swim so bonny o
Oh father, oh daddy, here swims a swan
With a hey ho and a bonny o
It's very like a gentle woman
The swans swim so bonny o
They placed her on the bank to dry
With a hey ho and a bonny o
There came a harper passing by
The swans swim so bonny o
He made harp pins of her fingers fair
With a hey ho and a bonny o
He made harp strings of her golden hair
the swans swim so bonny o
He made a harp of her breast bone
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And straight it began to play alone
The swans swim so bonny o
He brought it to her father's hall
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And there was the court, assembled all
The swans swim so bonny o
He laid the harp upon a stone
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And straight it began to play alone
The swans swim so bonny o
And there does sit my father the King
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And yonder sits my mother the Queen
The swans swim so bonny o
And there does sit my brother Hugh
With a hey ho and a bonny o
And by him William, sweet and true
The swans swim so bonny o
And there does sit my false sister, Anne
With a hey ho and a bonny o
Who drowned me for the sake of a man
The swans swim so bonny o
--Loreena McKennitt
Okay, now that that's out of the way, you know a little more about this story. See, the song raised more questions in my head than it answered. How did the sisters' father go from being a farmer to a king by the end of the song? Why did the youngest sister find a young man before the eldest? As I understand it, betrothals and so forth usually went by order of age. I'd like to know who William and Hugh are. There's no mention of a brother at the beginning of the song. How did the girl turn into a swan anyway?
Clearly there's a great deal of magic, or something, afoot in this story. So I'm going to filch the story and try to answer all the questions rattling around inside my head. The song makes no mention of what happens to the middle sister. She's not important to the story, it would seem. I beg to differ. I have often found that middle children are ignored, to the detriment of everyone.
So this book will be the story of the middle sister. Her youngest sister falls in love and then gets murdered by the eldest sister, who we must believe is in love with the same man. I am loath to think that the story is as simple as that, nor that it can simply end with the murderess being revealed in court to her doom. It doesn't entirely fit, as far as I'm concerned.
I already have a number of ideas about the facts that don't fit in the story. My main concern now is what to do with the middle sister. The book is her story, about her quest to find what happened to her younger sister and to try and save her older sister from her fate. I'm just not sure what she's going to find at the end. Sometimes, quests don't work out the way we expect them to.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 09:16 pm (UTC)There lived a lady by the North Sea shore
(Lay the ban to the bonny broom)
Two sisters were the babes she bore
(Fa la la-la, la-la ,la-la, lala)
As one gre bright as is the sun
(lay the the ban to etc)
So coal black grew the elder one
(fa la la etc)
A knight came riding to the lady's door
(I'm not writing these bits out any more)
He travelled far to be their war
He courted one with gloves and rings
But he loved the other above all things
'Oh sister, sister, go with me
To watch the ships sail on the sea'
And as they walked aong the windy shore
The elder pushed her sister o'er
'Oh sister, siter, let me live
And all that's mine I'll surely give'
'Your own true love, that I'll have, and more
But thou shalt never come ashore'
Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam
crying 'Sister, reach to me your hand'
And so she floated like a swan,
The salt sea bore her body on
Two minstrels walked along the strand
They saw the maiden float to land
They made a harp of her breast bone
Whose song would melt a heart of stone
They took three locks of her yellow hair
And with it strung the harp so rare
They've gone into her father's hall
To play the harp before them all
And as they set it on a stone
The harp began to play alone
The first string sang, a doleful sound
'The brighter younger sister drowned'
The second string as that they tried
'In Paris (?) sits the black haired bride'
The third string sang beneath their bow
'And surely now her tears will flow'
So, of course, I am curious to see how your story will turn out. I have heard about a zillion other versions of this song as well :o
no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 09:22 pm (UTC)I'd definitely be interested, if you're willing.
Folk songs - They're pretty much all inbred really :D
Date: 2006-05-07 09:28 pm (UTC)I have about fifty million stories-inspires-by-folk-songs kicking around in my head, eventually I may get some on paper :o
Re: Folk songs - They're pretty much all inbred really :D
Date: 2006-05-07 09:32 pm (UTC)Write write write!
Re: Folk songs - They're pretty much all inbred really :D
Date: 2006-05-08 02:09 pm (UTC)I could get lost wandering through Child for ages.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 09:01 am (UTC)Oh, my, look at those lovely ceiling tiles...
> I have often found that middle children are ignored, to the detriment of everyone.
Please tell me you are familiar with The Lion In Winter.
t!
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 03:36 am (UTC)I am not. Should I be? Is it a book? If so, from whom can I borrow it?
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 01:10 pm (UTC)Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine spend Christmas in Chinon plotting with and against their sons Richard, John, (yes, that Richard and his brother John), King Philip of France... and Geoffrey, the ignored middle child. Plotting, comedy, family drama - my favourite contemporary play.
2003 movie stars Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close. I haven't seen it.
1968 stars Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn (who won an Oscar, as did John Barry's score) as the happy couple. This was the screen debut of Timothy Dalton (Philip) and Anthony Hopkins (Richard). I have it on VHS.
In other news, I'm thinking that with all these Swan stories, there oughta be an anthology.
t!
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 02:08 pm (UTC)And the coolest thing is that these two stories are going to be totally different.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 03:40 am (UTC)That song just stuck in my head and wouldn't. let. go. Very annoying, in fact. The only way I'll be getting rid of it is to write the damned story already.
Getting together and jamming would be awesome. What I could do is wheedle a day off from my boss on one of your free Fridays, and we could jam then. What do you think?
And yes, it is highly cool that the stories will be completely different.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 03:09 pm (UTC)I have a short story -- or a series of them -- kicking around in my head, with one of them based on the song. This based on your comment that the song was "morbid" and my thought that it isn't, really, it just requires a different way of viewing the world.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 03:37 am (UTC)