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Thou inconsolable daughter
Said the sister
When wilt thou trouble the water
In the cistern
And what irascible black Bart
Is the father
And when young Margarete's waistline
Grew wider
The fruit of her amorous centaur
Inside her
And so our heroine withdraws
To the Taiga
Said the sister
When wilt thou trouble the water
In the cistern
And what irascible black Bart
Is the father
And when young Margarete's waistline
Grew wider
The fruit of her amorous centaur
Inside her
And so our heroine withdraws
To the Taiga
Lyrics submitted by MarcelLionheart
Track duration: 02:09
"A Bower Scene" as written by Colin Meloy
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Not centaur.
There are no centaurs in the story. There used to be confusion in Hazards 1 about whether William appeared as a fawn or a faun, but it was clarified that he appears as a fawn, a baby dear. There don't seem to be any half-man half-beast creatures running about in this particular taiga.
Anyway, the father's child wouldn't really be his "fruit" in its most common definition that makes sense in context. Here, fruit means result or outcome. The pregnancy is the result of her "amorous entwine" (hook-up)
The noun "entwine" means:
make contact or come together;
the verb can mean
tangle or complicate; "a ravelled story"
thefreedictionary.com/…
If she's noble, maybe the 'sister' is a nun, or maybe she's still biological. She could still be asking when she's due or possibly when she will confess her sins.
Overall, I just assume that stanza could have numerous meanings. All flow with the story and make decent sense.
Then she goes to the forest because she's showing.
Cue threatening forest music.
Definitions: IRASCIBLE - hot tempered; BLACKGUARD - kitchen servant (according to Merriam, this is obsolete); rude or unscrupulous
Although there's just a small chance the "trouble the waters" line is a Biblical reference (would you put it past Meloy?) - the pool of Bethesda was "troubled" by an angel in order to give the waters healing powers. Although again, this wouldn't explain "when wilt THOU".
And Indeed it is ia nun in charge of M. calling her out on her pregnancy and encouraging her to confess her sins ( or off herself as the popular beleif seems to be) ( when wilst thou trouble the waters of the cistern) Blackguard could mean scoundrel or it is also a discriptive word of a Peon of duty ( kitchen worker stableworker etc. So the nun could be asking who is this jack ass who got you pregnant and took the noble blood from your womb. or who is this jackass employee that we are going to fire or erase from duty... could be totally off just basing this on one theory that M is indeed a noblewoman...
Margaret lives in a bower with these 14 other women who just lie around bored with not a great deal to do. I think this suggests that Margaret is an orphan herself; otherwise, why is she not living with her family? That also explains the Sister, who I think is a nun rather than Margaret's own sister (calling her 'daughter'?) and she is in charge of looking after the girls. So they're all sitting about being patient waiting to be married, and Margaret, who has already had sex, is rolling her eyes a bit at their naivety and can't be content just sitting about any more.
It explains why Margaret is able to take off alone and go and look for William. If this is the case, interesting that they're both orphans, or abandoned children, and they end up leaving their own child an orphan. Oh, the angst.