The Death of Ercildoune
I returned to the Eildon tree
No more would lyrics come to me
My trade and craft is sworn away
by Sidhe queen on Lamass day
To roam the earth without good fare
Listening to all others ware
Then finally wither and to die
A pointless bard who cannot lie
Fair price to save a son
who blessed can never be returned
Half human and half Theena shee
But still my son... Forever free
His not to wear the grass-green hose
or lute and sing wherever he goes
My life for a lie... Well, maybe two
Some other child to pay the Devil's due
Still as I sleep against the tree
I dream I'm back under the lea
I rest my head on cloth-of-grass
This once-cursed breath is twice my last
© 2005 Kahdoosch
No more would lyrics come to me
My trade and craft is sworn away
by Sidhe queen on Lamass day
To roam the earth without good fare
Listening to all others ware
Then finally wither and to die
A pointless bard who cannot lie
Fair price to save a son
who blessed can never be returned
Half human and half Theena shee
But still my son... Forever free
His not to wear the grass-green hose
or lute and sing wherever he goes
My life for a lie... Well, maybe two
Some other child to pay the Devil's due
Still as I sleep against the tree
I dream I'm back under the lea
I rest my head on cloth-of-grass
This once-cursed breath is twice my last
© 2005 Kahdoosch
posted by Kahdoosch at 1:36 PM
4 Comments:
This is one that needs a little work from the reader (or at least a little background knowledge)
http://www.tweededucation.org.uk/map/Culture/04.htm
http://www.legends.dm.net/ballads/thomas.html
A little on Thomas the Rhymer linked above.
In the Bardic tradition, being unable to tell a lie is not necesarily a good thing.
A travelling Bard, of the 10th century, relied on the ability to 'finesse' his audience for the food, warmth and shelter with which he was paid. Such an audience did not wish to know that their village was poor in comparison to the last village on the trail, etc.
The poem 'The Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer', (Sir Walter Scott), and the legend of 'Tam Lin' have often been linked.
I was told a story by an illiterate old Irishman, many years ago, about the son that Thomas had to the Queen of the Sidhe (The Quin, Maedbe?). It seems the son was being saved as tribute to the devil for the boon of allowing the faery folk to dwell in the land between the forked road. Thomas stole his son on the eve of this tribute (the seventh anniversary of his bonding to Maebde) and took him to a monastry. The Faery horde caught up with Thomas, cursed him to the last breath in his body, and used the near dead Bard to bargain with the Abbe. The Abbe tricked the Faery Queen by baptising the son. Thus saving both generations from the horde.
Is this story true? It seems Ellen Kushner had at least heard of it (or the illiterate old scunner wasn't as unread as he made out).
One thought here... Thomas de Ercildoune was a 'Border Bard' in the time when the Moss Trouper terrorised the sassenach. The lay of the interwoven stories has a logic that is centuries older than the 1000 AD i.e. :- In the borders, the main religious disagreement, the hidden war, was between the Holy Roman See and the Johanite monks of Iona (and there theological brethren. Paganism and Druidism had been driven underground almost a millenium earlier.
Controversy? Religious conspiracy?
Without the written documentation no respected scholar would support a claim of a concerted effort to wash away a regional religion which is now believed officially to have been transplanted from elsewhere anyway.
Ever wonder why The Gorsedd was introduced by a stonemason?
Auja Alawin.
Were you warped here from another era? How did you write that? Very magical (with Dictionary.com up of course).
Warped? In some ways maybe. More likely to have been wefted, it uses less cotton.
You could say that the fabric of time is more pliable if you don't use a conditioner in the wash.
I have missed you. Hope you move fast and come back to me haha. I SOOOOO LOVE YOU!!!
By the way. are you moved yet?
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