The Twa Corbies (Boyd)
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
THE TWA CORBIES (J8x32) 2C (4C set) Iain Boyd Let's All Dance1- 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
The Twa Corbies (Boyd) - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
Also see the dance Twa Corbies (Russell/McConachie) by Edna Russell And Jack McConachie."Twa Corbies" is Scots for "two ravens or crows".
This dance shares its title with The Twa Corbies - Song, a traditional Scots ballad first published by Sir Walter Scott in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border in 1803, from a version supplied by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe. "Twa corbies" means "two ravens".
The ballad consists largely of a conversation between two ravens deciding where they will find their next meal. One tells the other of a dead knight lying behind a wall, abandoned by his hawk, his hound and his lady. With nobody guarding the body, the ravens plan to eat the knight, including his eyes, and use his hair to line their nest.
I heard twa corbies making a mane;
The tane unto the t'other say,
'Where sall we gang and dine to-day?'
The Twa Corbies is a Scottish form of The Three Ravens - Song (Child 26, Roud 5), an English ballad printed in Thomas Ravenscroft's Melismata in 1611. The ballad may have circulated before its appearance in Ravenscroft's collection.
The earlier printed Three Ravens tells a contrasting version of the story. Three ravens discuss the body of a newly slain knight, but his hawks and hounds remain beside him and prevent the birds from feeding. A "fallow doe", representing the knight's pregnant lover or "leman", comes to the body, kisses his wounds, carries him away and buries him. The song ends by wishing every gentleman such loyal hawks, hounds and a lover.
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
Twa Corbies - Two Ravens, Of The Tower Of London
This page uses content under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, along with original copyrighted content and excerpts from Wikipedia and other sources.
Text from this original The Three Ravens article on Wikipedia.
Text from this original Common Raven article on Wikipedia.
Text from this original Crow article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright User:Colin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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