Mi Contra Fa

No Hate Here

This is a blog for research into historically informed performance and Anglo-Saxon studies.  I research Anglo-Saxon England because I'm a sucker for mead-halls, garnet and gold jewelry, poetry that doesn't rhyme, and simple garb.

White supremacy is evil.  If that's what's brought you here today, I can't actually kick you off my website, but know that your aims are not supported here.

The Tale of Thorn (first draft)

I could have sworn I posted about this idea years and years ago, but I can't turn the blog post up.  (Maybe I need an index.)

ANYWAY.  Lo, somethings like eight or ten years ago, my imagination was caught by the right-hand panel of the Franks Casket.  It shows scenes from some lost tale, featuring a woman-horse-bird monster, a spearman, a woman, a horse, and a bird, a dead guy, and three women holding hands.  The inscription says that Hos (the name means "Thorn") was cursed to sit on the sorrow-mound because of the fate Ertae had decreed for her.

I'm participating in the Twelve Months of Bardic challenge on Facebook.  I missed January's jigs, but February was "Legends," and I thought it was finally time to figure out something with poor Hos.  You can download the resulting The Tale of Thorn, with the tale and the sources/inspirations. 

But I am not really happy with it. I mean, it's... fine.  It's not bad.  It's also not very good, either.  I have puzzled over it for a few days, and I have some ideas.

A lot of the Germanic stories are rich in dramatic irony - where the reader knows something, but the characters don't.

• Wealhtheow, in Beowulf, trying to make the great hero the guardian and protector of her children.  The reader knows (if they read the footnotes!) that when her husband Hrothgar dies, his brother will kill the boys, and Beowulf will not be around to save them.
• The whoooole thing with the memory-eraser potion in Nibelungenlied/Volsungasaga. 
• Brunhild's revenge in those
• Guthrun's "special stew" for Atli in Volsungasaga
• Signe's deception of her brother, also Volsungasaga
• Weyland Smith providing his captor king with baubles made out of his sons' bones

Taboo transgressions figure heavily as well, adding impact - the list above includes a truly extra suicide, double infanticide with bonus cannibalism, incest, and rape.

And all of the works have larger themes.  I am sure that if I were a grad student in this field, I could count dozens of analyses on those topics.  The ones that jump out at me are the tensions between the apparent glorification of honor warrior culture that the Ideal Heroes of the piece (Sigurth/Sigurd, Beowulf) seem to embody, juxtaposed with the General Awfulness that results from following those codes.

My story has none of that. 

I don't know if it should have any of that?  I would have to create a much larger tale that happens to include the Franks Casket scenes, rather than a tale that is composed of the Franks Casket scenes.  (Compare to say the Weyland story - the single panel that shows Weyland on the casket is jam-packed with references to events in it, yet still misses a lot of the narrative.  If you know the story, you get it all; but if you don't, you won't.)

Maybe - given the similarities in theme and subject to some of the later ballads - this would work better as a ballad than a prose story?  You kind of expect ballads to have little in the way of characterization, and an overall sparse narrative.

 

Continental Celtic-Inspired Beaded Necklace

A few years ago, I saw some news articles on an Iron Age burial from Switzerland.  A high-status woman was buried in a tree-trunk coffin with some beautiful grave goods, including a bead swag with glass and amber beads:

I loved it, I coveted it, I decided to make something like it.

Step 1: Decide on the form

I don’t often wear peplos gowns with two brooches and a bead swag.  Since I love and covet this look, I wanted it to be something I would actually wear, in garb or out of it.  So I decided to go with a necklace.

Step 2: Get the proportions

Getting something that looks like the necklace above isn’t quite as easy as buying blue and yellow beads, done.  There’s the relative sizes of the beads - how big the the large focal compared to the small blue spacers?  The general reporting didn’t include that kind of detail, and i wasn’t motivated enough to track down an archaeological report.

I took the image above and opened in up in MS Paint.  I could draw line along the diameter of each bead, and across its width, and then get the length of those lines from the pixel addresses of the start and stop points, combined with a little Pythagorean Theorem:

Length = SquareRoot( (Xstop - Xstart)^2 + (Ystop - Ystart)^2)

• Small blue beads: 18 pixels across, 5 pixels wide
• Small yellow beads: 21 pixels across, 9 pixels wide
• Larger amber bead: 33 pixels across, 27 pixels wide
• Large blue beads flanking focal: 40 pixels across, 17 pixels wide
• Focal: 80 pixels across, 45 pixels wide

Values are all very approximate.  It’s not always clear in the image where a bead starts or stops, because there are shadows.

So how do I translate “pixels” into beads I can buy?  FIrst, I simplified all of those values above.  The smallest dimension was 5 pixels, so I divided everything by 5 and rounded to get nice integer values:

• Small blue bead: 4 x 1
• Small yellow bead: 4 x 2
• Amber bead: 6.5 x 5.5
• Big blue bead: 8 x 3.5
• Focal: 16 x 9

Now I can start to get relative sizes of beads.  For example, I want a focal with a diameter 4x larger than the diameter of the smallest spacer (16/4 = 4). 

Step 3: Shopping!

The Focal

The main challenge would be the focal.  There would not be many options for that, and I suspected they would all be found at Heart of Oak Crafts on Etsy.  Bead Pattern 92 is a Hiberno-Norse design from centuries later than the Celtic necklace, but a good fit nevertheless.  It’s blue, with yellow dots, and two side lobes that look like the larger blue beads in my original. (Which might be part of the original focal, I don’t know.)  Only problem is that Heart of Oak doesn’t provide dimensions directly for this, just a comparison with a US penny.  I decided to purchase it on faith and do my best with the other beads.

Heart of Oak Bead 92

The Blue and Yellow Spacers

A little Googling taught me that the flat, round shape I wanted for the spacers called “rondelle” by bead people.  The smallest rondelles I was finding in that deep cobalt blue were 6mm across:

Found on eBay

 

The small yellow glass beads that flank the amber beads in the original were the same diameter, so I also got 6mm yellow rondelles:

From Etsy vendor BaubleShoppeBeads

 

Amber and Faux Amber

The bigger of the amber beads was not-quite round, but I was not finding amber beads in a lot of shapes.  I went with round beads.  How big should it be?  My “4 across” spacer is 6mm; so my “6.5 across” bead should be:

(6 mm/4)*6.5 = 9.75 mm

So I got a trio of 10mm diameter amber beads.

From Etsy vendor AmberusShop

Now what about the smaller amber beads?  The amber on this necklace is a bit odd.  On either side of the focal, there’s a larger amber bead and a smaller one.  The smaller ones are about the same size as the spacer beads.  The two larger beads aren’t identical (not unusual on early bead necklaces); the other bead is about the same diameter, but has a much more pronounced saucer shape.  I picked up some 9mm diameter saucer-shaped beads in a frosted amber glass.  The frosted effect was not ideal, but it was what I could find.

From Etsy vendor SeeSpotRunFindings

 

Lastly, for those smallest amber beads, I got 8mm glass rondelles, so they’d just be slightly larger than the spacers around them.

From BedazzlingBeads on Amazon

 

Step 4: Stringing

I almost immediately decided I didn’t much like the small 8mm amber glass rondelles.  They got visually lost between the bright yellow rondelles flanking them.

I also didn’t really like the asymmetry in the restrung original.  If you look at the image at the top of the post, you can see:

Tiny amber ---- Medium amber ---- FOCAL ---- Tiny amber (or glass?) ---- Medium amber

The second 'tiny amber' may even be a single yellow glass bead; it's a bit hard to tell.  This is fine and good and period, as near as I can tell.  Strict adherence to bilateral symmetry does not seem to have been a priority in early jewelry, although reconstructions often show designs that are echoed or rhymed on either side - similar sizes/different colors, similar colors/different sizes, things like that.  However, I was again looking for a piece of jewelry I could wear in or out of the SCA, so I wanted something more typically modern:

Tiny amber ---- Medium amber ---- FOCAL ---- Medium amber ---- Tiny amber

I also used my 9mm saucer beads for the "tiny" ambers, rather than the 8mm rondelles.  The difference in diameter isn't very much, but the greater thickness of the saucers gives them substantially more visual presence.  Yet, they feel substantially smaller than the 10mm round amber beads, so there's a nice distinction there as well.  This is again a departure from the original, but I preferred the effect.

I played around with the number of blue spacers to use.  My first trial used 25 between each of the showpiece beads.  That put the saucer beads behind my shoulder line.  It wasn’t a bad look but I wanted the showpiece beads more around the front, partly to show them off, and partly to echo the original bead swag.  15 blue beads did the trick.

Results

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the outcome!  This is a lovely necklace that is sleek enough for daily wear, and historically plausible enough for SCA use.  Although the original inspiration is Iron Age, I think it would pass as plausible for most early-ish northern European bead necklace/swag contexts.  A bead historian might find something amiss, but the casual viewer will not.

The focal is also not nearly as large, relative to the spacers, as in the original.  Without dimensions for the original beads, I’m not sure if this is because my spacers are too large or my focal is too small.  However, I actually like the size of the focal that I have.  It gives the necklace a different look, something more like a graduated string of pearls, where the elements are closer in size to each other.  It makes the necklace a bit more suitable for daily wear outside of events to my mind.  I’m also slightly concerned that a bead 4x wider than the spacers would be so large that it would lift the string of beads on either side off my neck slightly, putting weight on the main bead and being uncomfortable as a result.  (This would not be a problem with beads suspended from brooches, I expect, as they sit further down the chest and hang, rather than rest on the collarbone and sternum.)  

The Mere-Wife

For The Duke Gyrth Oldcastle Memorial Smackdown, March 6, 2021
Written on the theme “Praise for ‘home,’ whatever that is for you,” set by Poeta Atlantiae Lady Talia de Morales

No home found I         in my lord’s high hall
Among the warriors,         men on their benches
Thanes and battlers         haughty and bold
I set a smile         and consider the mead-horn’s path with care
Honoring each         without insult offered
For offense sparks barbs,         then blades and blood
I watch my words         and shield my thoughts
Vigilant guard         in the glad-noised hall

No home discovered         in my lord’s dwelling
Not in the bag of wool         nor under unwashed pot
Not fallen behind the loom         nor left burning at the hearth
Nor carried in sticky hand         of a crying small child

If home is rest,         respite and ease
Then I found it         by the edge of the mere
Snow-bound, ice-rimmed         silent and still
Gnarled tree roots dipped down         into dark water
Serpents twist and coil         sliding between them
I watch them but         they want nothing from me

Black battle-swans are here         but all is peace
They fly from my approach         feathers like night
Croaking cry         swallowed by snow
And they are beautiful to my eyes

Grey sky is silver         in the surface of the mere
Polished mirror         more marvelous than
Gifted arm-ring         Glittering in the hall
It shows me a woman         silent as the snow
Still as the mere-water         staring back at me

She serves no-one;         is served by no-one
Alone in this place         of desolate peace

The scops sang out:         The mere-wife is a monster

 

Trash-to-Treasure Side Table

While out walking the neighborhood, I found a small wooden folding side table out in the trash.  And it seemed mostly fine!  Weathered, certainly, with some iron staining, and the finish was mostly off, and one of the hooks that caught the folding leg was bent out of true, but I had been considering picking up just such a small item, to take to outdoor events as a place to set a mug, book, project, etc. while sitting in a camp chair.

I asked on Facebook for any advice on refinishing it, as woodworking is not at all my forte.  Masters Celric and Igor replied, with words the effect that I should sand it, decorate it (woodburning was suggested), and then polyurethane it.  The visible screws and rivets were items they would have hidden, if possible.

The side table as found

Sanding

I had a variety of sandpaper on hand, and used 120-grit to take off the top layer of dirt and staining.  As I went, I did encounter what looked like patches of an old finish.  Probably I should have gotten out a coarser grit at that point and entirely removed the old finish, but I really rather hate sanding.  Hoping that Rustoleum would cover a multitude of sins, I forged on.

I also bent the hook back into what looked like its original position.

Decorative Design

Images of ornate folding stools with zoomorphic legs, painted in black and red and gold, were dancing in my head.  Three things steered me off that path:

1. A quick flip through the Old English Pentateuch showed more furniture (chairs and benches, mostly) decorated with simple geometric designs rather than zoomorphics (although there were some)
2. Low confidence in my ability to execute a striking zoomorphic design
3. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on paint and glitz for a garbage table that I hadn't even sanded down properly.

Images of furnishings from the Old English Pentateuch 

Shopping My Closet

I already had a nearly full spraycan of brown primer/paint, a nearly empty spraycan of teal primer/paint, and a nearly full spraycan of indoor polyurethane.  I did have some black, but not enough to do the whole table.  So rather than black/red/gold, I decided to go with brown/teal/gold.

Shopping the Craft Store

I additionally purchased a set of paper stencils ($5) that had some designs that either were period or looked period-ish, based on my survey (and other research here - the main pattern for the tabletop matches an Anglo-Saxon floor tile I blogged about years ago).  I also got a container of gold acrylic ($2) and some stenciling brushes ($3).

I saw a thin wooden frame with a beaded border in the Wood Craft aisle that I thought might make a good tabletop.  I could nail it down and entirely cover the exposed screws and rivets.  Because of the rivets, it wouldn't be entirely flat.  On the other hand, I was giving myself good odds of setting a cup down on the exposed slats in such a way that it would tip over and spill.  Would a solid, gently domed top be better or worse than that?  I picked up the frame.

Painting

I did two coats of the brown primer in two stages (table upright, table inverted) with a few touch-ups.  After it was dry, I taped off part of the legs and sprayed just the feet with the teal paint, also in two coats.  (I could have used more tape - if you look closely, you can see a dusting of teal higher up the legs where the tape stopped.)

Then - stencils!  I picked patterns that appealed to me and covered the sides of the legs and the tabletop with them.  I went back over most of them with a paintbrush to give a second coat, more a shinier, more golden look.  

The circle/diamond pattern on the tabletop needed more modification.  The stencil had gaps (to hold itself together) and, if I'd had a large massed area of the pattern, I think that would have been fine.  But with a single row, it wasn't visually clear if these were repeated flowerpetal designs, or circles with diamonds in them.  I completed the edges of the circles and enlarged the vesica piscii (the pointy ovals) to match.  That went mostly okay.

The top of the table, painted

The side of the table, painted

Tabletop

I sprayed the tabletop with the brown primer, taped off a border and then sprayed the center and edges with some white primer that I also hand around.  When it dried, I used some stencils to trace on a design and painted it in with brushes.  I painted the borders with the gold acrylic, and polyurethaned the whole thing.

I ended up not using the tabletop.  I like how it looks, but the table's top is not actually square, and the tabletop doesn't actually cover it all.  There's a little lip of the original top that sticks out on two sides.  That just looked "not right."  Together with whatever problems I was courting by nailing these two pieces together (cracking the tabletop, moisture between the pieces, etc. etc.) I decided to just decorate the table itself instead, as described above.  The tabletop piece is decoratively sitting on a shelf in my office and is nice to look at.

Finish

I also did two coats of polyurethane in two stages (upright, inverted), trying not to lay it on too thick.  It's difficult to determine coverage for a transparent paint!  I did go heavy on the feet, since they'll be in contact with the damp ground.

It's an indoor finish; an indoor/outdoor would have been better.  However, this isn't really outdoor furniture - it isn't going to live outside.  It's going to live inside, and visit outside sometimes.  It might get rained on a bit before it gets thrown into a tent.  I think this will be okay.

If I were being more conscientious or thorough about this, I would have used some super-fine grit sandpaper to sand between the coats of finish, or maybe even after the final coat.  And a part of me thinks a super-smooth, shiny surface would be lovely to touch.  However, the part that hates sanding has vetoed it.

Conclusions

This is the kind of project that, for me, reinforces the value of developing a sense of the aesthetics of your favorite time/place.  There is no doubt that what I have is a modern piece of lawn furniture.  But many years of casually looking at Anglo-Saxon art gave me immediate ideas for how to dress it up, and I sharpened those general ideas with specific review of the sources.  Then, when confronted with something like a pack of modern stencils, I felt that I was able to select from them a set that gave an appropriate "feel" to the decorations.

This isn't a piece I'd show off for A&S, unless the theme was "10-Foot Rule" or similar.  But I'm much happier with the decorated table than the grungy one I pulled out of the trash.  

Merovingian clothing

Where to start.

1. I recently discovered "my" colors, shades that really look good on me.  I wanted to refresh my garb wardrobe a little, to try and reflect this.
2. When I started in the SCA, I mostly wore shirts and pants.  I didn't want to be a noble lady, I wanted to be a swashbuckling adventurer.  I've received confirmation from  multiple sources that, when I do wear shirts and pants, I seem more myself.
   1. Masculine garb could be an option, but I also loves me my jewelry.
   2. Neo-Celtic was really big in the barony I joined in the 90s, and I retain an affection for plaids worn with a ton of amber.  But see #3 below.
3. I wrestle with "the only thing required is AN ATTEMPT at pre-17th cen clothing" and "when you know better, do better." 
   1. I don't judge people whose SCA interests are not clothes-related, and who buy something plausible from a merchant and call it a day
   2. But I also appreciate how far we've come in improving our costuming
4. I have a LOT of gear suitable for a 6th/7th century lady of Kent, which just so happens to be fairly close to the gear needed for a lady of the Merovingian Empire.
5. Reconstructions of Merovingian (noble) women's dress vary, but the presence of ornate buckles on the feet and mid-shins have led some archaeologists to reconstruct their gowns as calf-length, and worn with linen hose or leg coverings.  These may not be the best or most recent reconstructions, but I see European re-enactors sporting the look.

So my current plan is to use some of the fabric in my stash to make a calf-length tunic, and pair it either with one of my three existing caftans, or else I have some wool (in one of "my" colors... ish, the monitor lied to me somewhat) to make a second winter-weight one that fits better than the diamond twill.  (The fabric on that one is spectacular, but the cut and fit... not so much.)  I'll wear it either with gartered trousers or knee hose and see how I like the look.

I have some linen in a 'natural' shade that's cooler than I'd ideally like, but I think it'll be okay.  I have a silk tie with geometric patterns that I scored at a thrift store a while back - I think I may use it for edging the neck and cuffs, if I can turn it into enough bias tape for the job.

If I like the look, I can take it further:

Suvia's LJ post on extant garments

Suvia's blog with her Arnegunde reconstruction

A reconstruction of royal tablet-woven bands

Pictures from a trip to the museum where the Chelles relics are kept

Close-up photo of the silk from Bertille's burial gown. More pre-1000 textiles including the Bathild embroidery.  Home page of photographer.

Tablet-weaving pattern for the bands on Bertille's gown.

The utter ridiculousness of the measurements of Le Grand Robe

A recent paper on Merovingian graves and reconstructions (in French)

SCA paper on Merovingian dress, requires login

20-year old chapter from the Met on Merovingian brooches

1997 paper on... I don't know, it's in German, but the pictures are of reconstructions

From the Grez office of tourism, information on their necropolis and the Lady of Grez (in French)

SCA paper on the Princess of Zweeloo, sign in required

 

 

 

Crow and Pie (Child 111)

Here's the original text and again I'm getting the tune from Raymond Crooke.

This one's a bit interesting.  The spelling in the original is all very Myddel Englisshe so - how old is it?  It shows up in this 1844 collection, Nugae Poeticae.  That book purports to be a collection of poems from 15th cen manuscripts.  For this one, it cites Rawlinson C 258.  (And for what it's worth, I found another website that correctly points to the Nugae, but then also gives Rowlinson C 818.  Other websites are citing C 813.)

The Bodelian has not digitized any of these MSes. C 258 contains the New Testament. Of C 818, it says it's 13th cen and contains two works by St. Augustine.  C 813 - early 16th century - is at least said to contain "Poems" so that seems like the most likely candidate.  Possibly the compiler of the Nugae Poeticae thought early 16th was close enough to late 15th, or in the 19th cen they dated the MS differently.

I have (mostly) modernized the spelling, cut out a few verses, and generally tried to make this more understandable for an SCA audience.  Not sure if "Gylle" should be pronounced "gill," like what a fish breathes through, or "Jill," the way we say the name today.  I lean towards "Jill" because, again, understanding.

EDIT: BOOM, got it!  I found a listing of all of the poems in C 813, and behold, coming in at number 44 on this list: "Throughe a forest as can I ryde," the opening to "Crow and Pie."  It's given as being on folio 55 b.  (b?!  Is that... the same as verso?)  NOT folio 27, which everyone keeps tossing out there - that's the folio that contains "The epitaph of Lobe the King's Fool" which - guess what? - follows "Crow and Pie" in the Nugae Poeticae. 

Y'all, this is why we don't cite other people's citations unless we actually go to the citation ourselves.  Otherwise - if you're reading something by Authority Y and you really love their quote by Authority X - there's formats that will let you cite Authority X as cited by Authority Y.  Don't just up and cite Authority X unless you've gone and read it.  You never know, you might find even more useful or cool stuff in the original!

THROUGH a forest as he did ride,
To take his sport in the morning
He cast his eye on every side
He was ware of a bird singing

He saw a fair maid come riding;
He spoke to her of love, I trow;
She answered him all in scorning,
And said, The crow shall bite you.

He took then out a good gold ring,
A purse of velvet, that was so fine:
‘Have ye this, my dear sweeting,
With that ye will be lemman mine.’

‘Nay, for God, sir, that I nill;
I tell the, Jenken, as I trow,
Thou shall not find me such a jill;
Therfore the crow shall bite you.’

He took her about the middle small,
That was so fair of hide and hue;
He kissed her cheek as white as wall,
And prayed her that she would upon him rue.

She scorn-ed him, and called him Hugh;
His love was as a painted bloom:
‘Today me, tomorrow a new;
Therfore the crow shall bite you.’

He took her about the middle small,
And laid her down upon the green;
Twice or thrice he served her so withall,
He would not stint yet, as I ween

‘But since ye have a-lain me by,
Ye will wed me now, as I trowe:’
‘I will be advised, Jill,’ sayd he,
‘For now the pie hath pecked you.’

‘Now since ye have a-lain me by,
A little thing ye will tell;
In case that I with child be,
What is your name? Where do ye dwell?’

‘At York, at London, at Clerkenwell,
At Leycester, Cambridge, at merry Bristowe;
Some call me Richard, Robart, Jack, and Will;
For now the pie hath pecked you.

‘Farewell, courtier, over the meadow,
Pluck up your heels, I you beshrew!
Your trace, where so ever ye ride or go,
Christ's curse go with you!

‘Though a knave hath by me lain,
Yet am I neither dead nor slow;
I trust to recover my heart again,
And Christ's curse go with you!'

Other ballads I may learn

The Brown Girl - not really on-theme but I like the general F U sentiment.

Crow and [Mag]Pie - For the "Just don't have sex then" crowd.  Raymond Crooke sings it.

The Queen of Elfan's Nourice - When you already have a child but you have to care for a different child instead.  Rachel McDonogh sings it.

The Broomfield Hill - When you have to ensorcel a man because if you don't let him have sex with you, he'll kill you.  A. L. Lloyd sings it.

Lizie Wan - Very much the same as Jellon Grame, except with bonus incest.

 

 

Jellon Grame

Another ballad, shortened.  Raymond Crooke performs it.

O JELLON GRAME sat in Silver Wood,
He whistled and he sang,
And he has calld his little foot-page,
His errand for to gang.

‘Win up, my bonny boy,’ he says,
‘As quick as eer you may;
For ye maun gang for Lillie Flower,
Before the break of day.’

The boy he’s buckled his belt about,
And thro the green-wood ran,
And he came to the ladie’s bower-door,
Before the day did dawn.

‘Ye are bidden come to Silver Wood,
But I fear you’ll never win hame;
Ye are bidden come to Silver Wood,
And speak wi Jellon Grame.’

‘O I will gang to Silver Wood,
Though I shoud never win hame;
For the thing I most desire on earth
Is to speak wi Jellon Grame.

She had no ridden a mile, a mile,
A mile but barely three,
Ere she came to a new made grave,
Beneath a green oak tree.

O then up started Jellon Grame,
Out of a bush hard bye:
‘Light down, light down now, Lillie Flower,
For it’s here that ye maun ly.’

She lighted aff her milk-white steed,
And knelt upon her knee:
‘O mercy, mercy, Jellon Grame!
For I’m nae prepar’d to die.

‘Your bairn, that stirs between my sides,
Maun shortly see the light;
But to see it weltring in my blude
Woud be a piteous sight.’

‘O shoud I spare your life,’ he says,
‘Until that bairn be born,
I ken fu well your stern father
Woud hang me on the morn.’

‘O spare my life now, Jellon Grame!
My father ye neer need dread;
I’ll keep my bairn i the good green wood,
Or wi it I’ll beg my bread.’

He took nae pity on that ladie,
Tho she for life did pray;
But pierced her thro the fair body,
As at his feet she lay.

Fair Mary of Wallington

Gonna see about chopping this down to performance length.  Raymond Crooke's performance for the tune.

WHEN we were silly sisters seven,
sisters were so fair,
Five of us were brave knights’ wives,
and died in childbed lair.

Up then spake Fair Mary,
marry woud she nane;
If ever she came in man’s bed,
the same gate wad she gang.

‘Make no vows, Fair Mary,
for fear they broken be;
Here’s been the Knight of Wallington,
asking good will of thee.’

‘If here’s been the knight, mother,
asking good will of me,
Within three quarters of a year
you may come bury me.’
 
She had not been in Wallington
three quarters and a night,
Till on the ground she coud not walk,
she was a weary wight.

‘Give my respects to my mother,
[as] she sits in her chair of stone,
And ask her how she likes the news,
of seven to have but one.

‘Give my love to my brothers
William, Ralph, and John,
And to my sister Betty fair,
and to her white as bone.

‘And bid her keep her maidenhead,
marry shoud she nane; 
If ever she came in man’s bed, 
the same gate will she gang.

She took out a razor sharp
that was both bright and fine,
And out of her left side has ta'en
the heir of Wallington.

There is a race in Wallington,
and that I rue full sare;
Tho the cradle be full up,
the bride-bed is left bare.
 

Finally figured out how to set up warps without tangles!

I wanted to use up some pearl cotton, so I made a couple basic threaded-in bands.  The first one was the usual mess - Knot the warps at either end, shove all the tangles down and back towards the knots, and pray for the best.

I did better on the second!  I took each card and used a lark's head knot to attach the 'far' end to a small dowel (actually a pencil).  I suspended the pencil from my weaving hook.  Then, card by card, I picked each one up and ran the card from the far end to the weaving end to untangle the strings.  And then I tied it off on a chair-back, using a half-hitch and a slipknot.  When they were all done, and the cards were properly set up to start, I undid all the slipknots, gathered up the weaving ends, and knotted them overhand.  Then attached to belt and started to weave (after checking the card order again). 

And it occurs to me that what I macguyvered out of a pencil and a chair looks an awful lot like the Oseberg tape loom (which is two uprights held up by a crossbeam).  I always thought weaving "sideways" on the Oseberg loom would be awkward (although I've never tried it) but it sure would be useful for getting set up!