I had a text from my daughter this evening; she is at a RenFaire at which this evening apparently songs are shared according to topics. Sounds to me like the way hoots work - someone sings a song and it reminds someone else of another song - anyway, a friend of hers had a topic of "the unexpected strength of women."

She thought of "The Outlandish Knight" in response to the topic, because when she was a child she heard me sing it many times. When we were reading the poetry collection Rainbow in the Sky I was physically unable to simply read that poem. I had to sing the song because my father (John Dwyer) had that book and sang that version to us.

If he were here now (he died 20 years ago) he'd be so pleased to hear how his granddaughter spoke of this song as a family favorite, then sang it for the assembled audience. She was young when he died, so I'm glad some of the Dwyer love of storytelling-through-song got through to her. (Offered up for Dad's friends who helped him celebrate the arrival of his first grandchild nearly 30 years ago.)