Breathe (On Hold Indefinitely)

Song

The Twa Sisters

Det bor en bonde på vilden øy

Han hadde to døtre på bordet

En var som melk og blod

den andre så svart som jord

For det var de begge forelsket

ville den yngste datteren gratis

"Ingen bør glemme meg

Når harpe begynner å synge"

Den yngste gikk med gylne hår

den eldste med falske råd:

"La oss gå ned til sjøen

og vaske oss rene fra båten "

Ungdommene kom ut på bank steiner

Den andre dyttet henne ut med sin etappe

Det var to unge menn som spiller

de gikk langs stranden

når de ser søsters lik

brakt opp på den hvite sanden

Av bein og hennes gylne hår

de gjorde en harpe - vakker som våren

Harpe brakt til bonde gård

og kan bli kjent med sin sang

"Min søster tok mitt unge liv

men aldri gjør hun ta min mann

På kvelden sitter hun på brudebenk

I morgen vil hun være på bålet brant for

- Ingen bør glemme meg

Når harpe begynner å synge "

_____

SO, while doing some research on Scandinavian folklore and tales, I came across this song. It is my understanding that this was a translation for a Swedish version to Norwegian. The Norwegian version of this song is Dei Tvo Systar (which is apparently impossible to find anywhere on the internet). I found the song very interesting, as it is morbid yet poetic. It also slightly ties in with plot.

Basically, the song is about about two sisters; one kind, with golden hair, and the older sister who was cruel and black as earth. The older sister is jealous of the golden sister's love. One day the she deceives her sister into standing by the sea, to clean themselves. She then drowns the sister, leading others to believe it was an accident and proceeds to steal her love.

Two boys come upon her bones and hair on the beach, and decide to craft a harp. They travel to the sister's farm and play a song for her family. Upon hearing the song, the family remember the golden sister and realizes the cruel sister murdered her. The next day the cruel sister is burned for her crime.

An English translation can be found here: https://goo.gl/Lsev4w (I made a short link. It was fairly exciting.)

(However, I would be wary, seeing how it is Google translate. )

There are several hundred variants of this song, the majority of them being Swedish. In some variants, the harp is broken in the end, and the younger sister comes back to life. In some, the older sister is never discovered and therefore never punished. A few other versions tell of three sisters and take a more Cinderella approach. The instruments often vary between a harp and a fiddle.

Just a bit of history. I thought it might be good to provide some background for the song. I found it to be pretty interesting, and hope you did too.

Thanks for reading,

DreamingNikol