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r ransom wrote:A lot of policy is based on the demographics of who turns up to vote. Turning up to vote is one of the best ways to get the government to listen to you.
That said... What you do in the ballet box is up to you. If you don't like the choices, you can always spoil the ballot. I don't feel which box one ticks makes any difference. But don't mind me, I'm cynical about this sort of thing.
M Ljin wrote:Lisa Null, Bill Shute, “The Rocky Banks of the Buffalo”
I suspect this may be an Indian story in ballad form, for various reasons. There aren’t many of those I’ve come across so this is quite interesting! This one is surprisingly fast paced.
A wild man comes (the wild man archetype who lives in the forest comes to steal the maiden to be his bride is found in different Native cultures) and courts some sisters. He threatens each sister to come with him or he will take their hair or take their hide. But they say they’d rather lose their hair and hides than go with him, and so the first loses her skin, the second her hair. He throws a knife at the oldest, but it bounces back and kills him. She puts her sisters back together and all is well.
Or, it may be a reworking of The Bonny Banks of Fordie as some suggest.
Judith, you may find this one interesting too, at least for reason of its locality…
There were three maids lived under a bluff,
Shickel-i-shoe and a shuffle-o
In the Ozark mountains wild and rough
On the rocky banks of the Buffalo.
One day a wild man came along,
And he was mighty fierce and strong.
He courted them the whole day long,
And on his pipes he played this song.
He said to the youngest, "Won't you be my wife?
Or I'll take your hide and I'll take your life."
"Before I'd be a wild man's wife,
I'd lose my hide and I'd lose my life!"
He took her hide and he let her go,
And she danced all night on the heel and toe.
He said to the second, "Won't you be my bride
Or I'll take your hair and I'll take your hide!"
"Before I'd be a wild man's bride
I'd lose my hair and I'd lose my hide!"
He took her hair and turned her loose
And she looked just like a new plucked goose.
He said to the oldest, "Won't you be my squaw?
Or I'll take your pelt to my mother in law."
She said, "Now wild man, that cannot be,
I'm a tough old gal and you can't fool me!"
He throwed at her his hunting knife,
But it bounced right back and took his life.
She put the hide back on her kin;
They were twice as pretty and young again.