The two ravens | As I was walking all alone

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

Translation © by David K. Smythe

The twa corbies

Language: English

As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies making a mane;
The tane unto the [t'other]¹ say,
'[Where]² sall we gang and dine [today]³?'

"In behint yon auld fail dyke,
I wot there lies a new-slain knight;
And naebody kens that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and [his]⁴ lady fair.

His hound is to the hunting gane,
His hawk, to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady's ta'en another mate,
So we may make our dinner sweet.

Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I'll pike out his bonny blue e'en;
Wi' ae lock o' his gowden hair
We'll theek our nest when it grows bare.

Many a one for him makes mane,
But nane sall ken [whare]² he is gane:
O'er his white banes, when they are bare,
The wind sall blaw for evermair."

Text Authorship:

from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , "The twa corbies", published by Sir Walter Scott, as written down, from tradition, by a lady, from The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Vol. 3, James Ballantyne, Edinburgh, first published 1803 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Frederic Ayres (1876 - 1926), "The twa corbies" [sung text checked 1 time]
by Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953), "The twa corbies", 1906 [ reciter and piano ], from Two Recitations for spoken voice and piano, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882 - 1961), "The twa corbies", 1903-1909, published 1924 [ baritone and piano or 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, contrabass ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "The twa corbies", 1914-1915, published 1920 [ voice and piano ], in Music and Letters [sung text checked 1 time]

Set in a modified version by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Percy Aldridge Grainger, John Ireland, Thomas Ravenscroft.

Go to the text. [ view differences ] DUT

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by A. Aleksandrova ; composed by Sigizmund Mikhailovich Blumenfel'd.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by (Karl) Wilhelm Osterwald (1820 - 1887) ; composed by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Sigizmund Mikhailovich Blumenfel'd.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Anna Teichmüller.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Oskar Ludwig Bernhard Wolff (1799 - 1851) [an adaptation] ; composed by Carl Banck.
Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837) , no title, written 1828, first published 1828 ; composed by Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Aliabev, Sigizmund Mikhailovich Blumenfel'd, Nikita Vladimirovich Bogoslovsky, Evgeny Ivanovich Bukke, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky, Viktor Stepanovych Kosenko , Sergey Mikhailovich Lyapunov, Nikolai Karlovich Medtner, Ivan Alexandrovich Pomazansky, Vladimir Ivanovich Rebikov, Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov, Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein, V. Ryabov, Georgiy Vasil'yevich Sviridov, Ilya Fyodorovich Tyumenev, Aleksei Nikolayevich Verstovsky, Mikhail Yur'yevich Viel'gorsky.
Also set in Ukrainian (Українська), a translation by Ivan Yakovych Franko (1856 - 1916) ; composed by Viktor Stepanovych Kosenko .

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (David K. Smythe) , "The two ravens", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , no title, first published 1826

Researcher for this page: David K. Smythe

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-02
Line count: 20
Word count: 145

The two ravens

Language: English after the English

As I was walking all alone,
I heard two ravens complaining;
The one to the other saying,
'Where shall we go and dine today?'

"In behind that old field wall,
I know that there lies a new-slain knight;
And nobody knows that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and lady fair.

His hound is to the hunting gone,
His hawk, to fetch the wild-fowl home,
His lady's taken another mate,
So we may make our dinner sweet.

You'll sit on his white collar-bone,
And I'll peck out his pretty blue eyes;
With this lock of his golden hair
We'll roof our nest when it grows bare.

Very many for him lament,
But none shall know where he is gone:
Over his white bones, when they are bare,
The wind shall blow for evermore."

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to English copyright © by David K. Smythe, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in English from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , "The twa corbies", published by Sir Walter Scott, as written down, from tradition, by a lady, from The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Vol. 3, James Ballantyne, Edinburgh, first published 1803
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website:
Line count: 20
Word count: 135