Swan story

[secret_history]

I 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:

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.