Week 12 Story: A Binnorie Song

A Binnorie Song

 I was a princess from Binnorie

    The bonnie milldams of Binnorie

A beautiful lass with skin so fair

    And beautiful, flowing golden hair

Sir William came and took his bride

    My sister whose smile spread so wide

But soon his heart, it fell for me

    The more beautiful princess of Binnorie

And so he came and took my hand

    and so he came and took my hand

He slighted my sister, his bride to be

    She plotted her vengeance where none could see

That vengeful princess of Binnorie

    That vengeful princess of Binnorie

And time did pass and all was well

    The hate in her heart, oh none could tell

That vengeful princess of Binnorie

    That vengeful princess of Binnorie

One day she said let's go to the docks

    She should have said let's go to the stocks

For the river is where my life would end

    A hand or a glove she would not lend

She pushed me into the roaring stream

    She did it alone, no help or team

I begged for her help. I begged for a line

    I offered her half of all that was mine

She told me that it would not be wise

    It would all be hers after my demise

I offered her William, her groom to be wed

    She said she would have him after I'm dead

I struggled for breath, oh I struggled for air

    I sank from the weight of my wet, golden hair

Soon it went dark, my demise was quite near

    Murdered in cold by my old sister dear

What a vengeful princess from Binnorie

    What a vengeful princess from Binnorie

A horrid stain on lovely Binnorie

    The beautiful milldams of old Binnorie

But this milldam would not be the end of my tale

    A wonderful maiden pulled me out all cold and pale

A harper passed by and saw my poor corpse

    He remarked on my beauty then returned to his course

The years passed by and my body did rot

    But that wonderful harper, he never forgot

He came back again to my bones and my hair

    He fashioned a harp so sublime and so fair

He trekked to the castle, his creation in tow

    He offered the king a grand dinner show

The whole court did gather to hear his sweet tunes

    I was placed on a pedestal, no markings or runes

And so now here I sing this song

    And so now here I sing this song

To tell the tale of a sister wronged

    To tell the tale of a sister wronged

And now that you know your princess is no friend

    My terrible tale must come to an end

Illustration by John D. Batten (1890)

Author's Note

As you can see, I tried to really do something different this week and wrote a song/poem. I didn't change any of the original story. A man marries the older of two sisters and then leaves her for the younger one. The older one kills the younger. The younger one is fished out of the river and a harper turns her bones and hair into a harp. He takes this harp to the king's court and the heart sings a song all on its own that tells everyone what went down. In the original, the song just names her family members and then says her sister killed her. I expanded on that by having the song be the entire story. I imagined it like an old bar song that a bard would sing in the corner and everyone knew the story behind. If you'd like to sing along, just imagine how that might sound. It sort of works to the tune of The Ballad of Sweeney Todd from the Sondheim musical, Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street because that was playing in my head as I wrote this. 

 Bibliography. Binnorie from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1890)