The Bonny Swans

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"The Bonny Swans" is a track from Canadian musican Loreena McKennitt's 1994 album, The Mask and Mirror. It is based on the story The Twa Sisters.

The song recounts a tale in which a young woman is drowned by her jealous older sister in an effort to gain the younger sister's beloved. The girl's body washes up near a mill, where the miller's daughter mistakes her corpse for that of a swan. Later, after she is pulled from the water, a passing harper fashions a harp from the bones and hair of the dead girl; the harp plays alone, powered by the girl's soul. The harp is brought to her father's hall and plays before the entire court, telling of her sister's crime. The lyrics are as follows:

• 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 / These 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

A song called "The Wind and Rain", appearing on Altan's 2005 album Local Ground, is apparently an alternate version of the song. Though it is sung to a different tune and there are several changes in the plot (there are only two sisters, for example, and the victim is turned into a fiddle and not a harp), the basic plot outline is still recognizable.