The Bonny Swans
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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into The Twa Sisters. (Discuss) |
"The Bonny Swans" is a track from Canadian musician 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.
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.
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