> the title track of Pentangle's Cruel
> Sister is the same (rather grotesque) story as "Harpen", one of the best
> known Norwegian medieval ballads.
> Obviously, neither Pentangle's version nor the "official" Norwegian are
> originals - Pentangle's is clearly late 16th Century, while the ones you
> find in Norwegian collections are even more recent. Also, the ballad
> seems to have some stylistic traits that suggest it's neither British
> nor Norwegian originally.
> Does anybody have any information about the ballad?
Usually known in Scotland as "The Twa Sisters o Binnorie" - it's in
every ballad collection you could shake a stick at.
It's also the story of Mahler's cantata "Das Klagende Lied"; I think
he got it from German folklore. I would guess it originated among the
Germanic peoples some time in the pre-Christian Dark Ages at the very
latest.
=================== <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> ===================
To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
