The Three Ravens

Text of the ballad

The Twa Corbies

In popular culture

• The popular American rock band The Horrible Crowes takes its name from "Twa Corbies”.
• The song is featured in The Adventure Company's game Jack the Ripper and plays a major role in the gameplay.
• The song is mentioned in Diana Gabaldon's novel The Fiery Cross, when Roger MacKenzie encounters some crows in the woods.
• Oli Steadman included it on his song collection "365 Days Of Folk"..
• The song appears in the 1922 fantasy novel The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison, sung by the Lady Mevrian in mourning for her lost brother.
• Dorothy L. Sayers quotes the last two lines of the ballad in her mystery novel Clouds of Witness.
• There is a story, "The Three Ravens", in Jim Henson's HBO special The StoryTeller which, despite its title, is based on the German fairy tale The Six Swans, not this ballad.
• The ballad was selected for use in the 2017 period film My Cousin Rachel, following a commission for a dark English folk tune to be sung in the film at a Christmas feast for an early-1800s farmstead.
• A recording of the song features in the credits for the 2014 Channel 4 period drama New Worlds, which is set in England during the 1680s.
• A version of the song by John Harle features in Simon Schama's A History of Britain, particularly in the episodes "The Body of the Queen", "The British Wars" and "The Two Winstons".
• The song is sung by Henry VIII in the 2023 film Firebrand, which is about his marriage to Katherine Parr.
• The Australian depressive rock band Expurgatory used the words of "Twa Corbies" in their song "Twa" from their compilation album A lustrum in 2018.

  Translations

• Danish: Ravnene, a translation of Twa Corbies by Danish folklorist Svend Grundtvig. The band Svartsot plays a version named "De to Ravne"
• Hebrew: שלושה בני עורב, translated by Nathan Alterman, and a more popular translation שלושה עורבים by Yaakov Shabtai.
• Finnish: Kaksi korppia, a translation of "Twa Corbies" by Finnish band Tarujen Saari.
• Frisian: De twa roeken, translated by Klaes Bruinsma, sung by Doede Veeman on his LP Frustraasjebloes.
• German: Die drei Raben, a translation of The Three Ravens, by Theodor Fontane. Die zwei Raben by the same author is the best known German version.
• * The German medieval/rock crossover group Schelmish wrote a German version of The Three Ravens lyrics, also titled Rabenballade.
• * The German group Subway to Sally wrote the song Krähenfraß, also based on the Twa Corbies version and using a very similar melody, but with even more sinister lyrics. This version places the story in present day, replaces the knight with a soldier, and adds a new stanza in the end, loosely translating to "the bare bones will be clean / and preserved for a long time / and announce shining from the dirt / what a soldier's purpose is".
• * The German neo-medieval group Die Streuner has their own version titled Rabenballade. In the lyrics. not only do the dogs stop guarding their master, they eat his flesh the next day. The falcons are simply "no longer seen" and the maid "already that evening doesn't sleep alone".
• The Czech folk music group Spirituál kvintet adapted the melody of "The Three Ravens" to record a song called Válka růží. However, the theme has been completely changed, as the new lyrics concerned the Wars of the Roses between the Yorks and Lancasters.
• * The Czech folk music group Asonance adopted "Twa Corbies" in a translation similar in tone to original.
• * The Czech folk metal group Hakka Muggies used the tune in their song Havrani. The lyrics, however, follow a story of two Scottish outlaw brothers, so the ravens are a metaphor.
• * The Czech group Ječmen used the tune and text by Asonance to make a comedic version about two chickens trying to survive after they've eaten all the barley and their master cannot make whisky.
• Norwegian: Ravnene, a translation very similar to the Danish version. The Norwegian folk rock group Folque performed this song on their debut album, and used a tune similar to Steeleye Span's version.
• Russian: The Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin published in 1828 a partial translation of the French translation of Walter Scott's Border Poems. It includes the poem "Шотландская песня", which has become very well known among Russian-speaking people. Pushkin's translation contains only the first half of the poem, ending with "and the mistress awaits for her lover, not the killed one, but the alive one". Many composers of the time wrote musical interpretations of the poem.
• * The Russian folk band Sherwood recorded a Russian-language version of "Twa Corbies" on their album Sweet Joan using their own translation.
• Basque: Bi beleak is a translation of "Twa Corbies" from the Basque poet Jon Mirande, sung by the Basque singer Imanol Larzabal.
• The Polish folk band Odpust Zupełny recorded a Polish-language version called Ballada o dwóch krukach.

  Media

• – a parody of “The Three Ravens”.

  Written works

• Minstrelsy Ancient and Modern by William Motherwell, 1827. "Twa Corbies" is on page 7.

• Recorded music and videos

• on John Harle's CD Terror and Magnificence