The Twa Corbies (Boyd)

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1- 8 1s dance down between 2s and cast up on own sides, 1s turn 2H (pas-de-basque)
9-16 2s dance up between 1s and cast down on own sides, 2s turn 2H (pas-de-basque)
17-24 1s cross RH, cast down 1 place (2s step up 3-4), 1s dance ½ fig of 8 round 2s
25-32 2s+1s dance R&L

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

Dance Instruction Videos

Dance Information

The title of this dance, Twa Corbies, comes from The Twa Corbies - Song written heavily in the Scots language, probably dating from the 18th century, first published in Walter Scott's Minstrelsy in 1812.

In The Twa Corbies Song, the 2 corbies tell that the hawk and the hound have forsaken their master, and are off chasing other game, while his mistress has already taken another lover. The ravens are therefore given an undisturbed meal, as nobody else knows where the man lies, or even that he is dead. They talk in gruesome detail about the meal they will make of him, plucking out his eyes and using his hair for their nests.

The Twa Corbies was derived from The Three Ravens - Song (Child 26, Roud 5), an English folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that.

The earlier Three Ravens ballad takes the form of three scavenger birds conversing about where and what they should eat. One tells of a newly slain knight, but they find he is guarded by his loyal hawks and hounds. Furthermore, a "fallow doe", an obvious metaphor for the knight's pregnant lover or mistress ("leman") comes to his body, kisses his wounds, bears him away, and buries him, leaving the ravens without a meal. The narrative ends with "God send euery gentleman / Such haukes, such hounds, and such a Leman".

A raven is one of several larger-bodied species of the genus Corvus. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus.

There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", and these appellations have been assigned to different species chiefly on the basis of their size, crows generally being smaller than ravens.

A crow is a bird of the genus Corvus, or more broadly is a synonym for all of Corvus. The term "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. There are 40 known species of crows throughout the world.

The Twa Corbies Song - Information Video

Raven's - Information Video

Twa Corbies - Two Ravens, Of The Tower Of London

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