Traditional (Child #26); translated into modern English by Weiner, Cox, Budin and Smith
Listen to it: Strangers at the Gate, Guilt, Angst & Fairy Tales (live)
Watch it: Susan’s Going-Away Party
Play it: Sheet music & tablature
As all alone one night I walked
I saw two ravens, how they talked
One raven two the other did say
“Where shall we go and dine today?
Where shall we go and dine today?
I know the place a soldier fell
A man of honor, mark it well
And no one knows that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound and his lady fair
His hawk, his hound and his lady fair
His hound has gone to hunt alone,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl home,
His lady’s found another mate,
So we may have our dinner date
So we may have our dinner date
You’ll dine upon his meaty thighs,
And I’ll peck out his hazel eyes;
With one lock of his golden hair
We’ll thatch our nest when it grows bare
Thatch our nest when it grows bare
Many a one for him will cry,
But no one knows where he does lie;
O’er his bones, once they’re picked clean
The lonesome wind shall wail and keen
The lonesome wind shall wail and keen”