Mudcat Café message #328168

The Mudcat Café ^TM
Thread #3527 Message #328168
Posted By: Snuffy
26-Oct-00 - 08:34 PM
Thread Name: Hal An Tow: notes?
Subject: RE: Hal An Tow: notes?

I like Nigel Sellars' idea (20-Dec-97) about the horns verse being a 'floater' from elsewhere, as its connection to the other verses seems tenuous, but it appears to have got attached to the song well before the Oyster Band recorded it.
It would make sense for this to be part of a straightforward hunting song, and nothing to do with cuckoldry. Shakespeare's version would lend credence to this theory, the last two lines possibly being a refutation of the cuckold significance. Where did he get this song? Stratford is only about 40 miles from Abbots Bromley - is there a connection?

AS YOU LIKE IT (William Shakespeare)

ACT IV, SCENE II - Another Part of the Forest.
Enter JAQUES and Lords, like foresters.

Jaq Which is he that killed the deer?

1 Lord Sir, it was I.

Jaq Let's present him to the duke, like a Roman conqueror; and it would do well to set the deer's horns upon his head for a branch of victory. - Have you no song, forester, for this purpose?

2 Lord Yes, sir.

Jaq Sing it: 't is no matter how it be in tune, so it make noise enough.

SONG

What shall he have, that killed the deer?
His leather skin, and horns to wear.
Then sing him home.
Take thou no scorn, to wear the horn;
It was a crest ere thou wast born.
Thy father's father wore it,
And thy father bore it.
The horn, the horn, the lusty horn,
Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.

[Exeunt.

Wassail! V

Jaq	Which is he that killed the deer?
1 Lord	Sir, it was I.
Jaq	Let's present him to the duke, like a Roman conqueror; and it would do well to set the deer's horns upon his head for a branch of victory. - Have you no song, forester, for this purpose?
2 Lord	Yes, sir.
Jaq	Sing it: 't is no matter how it be in tune, so it make noise enough.
	SONG
	What shall he have, that killed the deer? His leather skin, and horns to wear. Then sing him home. Take thou no scorn, to wear the horn; It was a crest ere thou wast born. Thy father's father wore it, And thy father bore it. The horn, the horn, the lusty horn, Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.
	[Exeunt.