Horse Tamer's Daughter (Lyrics)

[@charlesshoultz3319]

This is an entire fantasy novel in about 12 minutes. Absolutely spectacular storytelling.

[@RobotsEverywhereVideos]

"why did you microwave the wizards" "they tried to make me pay taxes" "understandable"

[@afriendofafriend5766]

A mystical Boston Tea Party.

[@cassandrabelyeu2419]

Does….does a toll of one child in ten count as “taxes” exactly?

[@syncringe1885]

@@cassandrabelyeu2419 It does when you use those kids as materials for spells.

[@cassandrabelyeu2419]

@@syncringe1885 Is that what they wanted magically-inclined kids for?

[@syncringe1885]

@@cassandrabelyeu2419 I mean. Possibly. Think about it. Depending on the world you may need a certain level of magic running through your veins. So what if one could harvest that magic to produce desired effects in other items. Now if this is from or for a game with different lore then its going to be for different reasons. I just like my dark reason as it feels like it could work.

[@aislynnalifano2135]

This song is based on the Darkover series by Marrion Zimmer Bradley. In it ESP runs in families (lords) with each having a unique ability. Starstones amplifies that power. Untrained psychics are a danger so the towers were originally schools (why the wizards are looking for kids). One gift is very rare where the person has the ability of a star stone themselves. Due to the war a compact was made part of which says no weapons can be used that do not put the user in equal danger.

[@darianchristie3260]

To amplify the answer above for people who have never read the books, or have read them and want to know how this fits, Keepers are the leroni (plural, psychic lords) with strongest and best trained powers, and the ability to guide the minds of a whole circle of people in using a matrix stone (kind of like a mental computer) to do great tasks. Keepers wear red robes. Laran (singular of leroni) each have a blue starstone which is used as a focus for the mind. The "black mirror" is the lowest kind of matrix, at the level of a simple calculator vs a computer. The matrix stones allow the leroni to do bigger tasks that would be either impossible, or take extremely long, to do without them, like building things and weapons telekinetically and by manipulating and making molecules atom by atom. By "the living matrix" they mean she can form a circle and do tasks without using a matrix - some of the Hastur clan were able to do this (and one version of this song has "Hastur seed" rather than "wizard's seed", and they were very powerful and quite often mentally unstable hence "heep away from me".

[@RedwoodTheElf]

I recently started to try to read Darkover...for some reason, Kindle has it split up into several different series, and the one it says is the first book is numbered as number 8 (Heirs of Hammerfall) - I'm guessing maybe that's the first in historical continuity, but was actually the 8th published or something, though the book mentions Hali tower having been wrecked before the book, so clearly I'm going to have to search a bit more to find the actual first book?

[@aislynnalifano2135]

@@RedwoodTheElf The series works usually in trilogies but their are a few some stand alones. I would start with Exiles Song. I don't have thr books with me but Hali tower falls in thr Hundred kingdoms era or the Age of Chaos. Considering that they use msgic as a weapon the song has to take place during that time before the Compact.

[@bryanmcclure2220]

Which dark over book is it

[@RedwoodTheElf]

@@bryanmcclure2220 This particular story is non-canon. All we know about its place in the timeline is that it occurs at least a century after the destruction of Hali Tower, which occurred in "Forbidden Tower" I think.

[@danibottenfield6260]

MANY years ago I sat around a fire and listened to Leslie sing this song. it was magical.

[@gatome4458]

Did this have anything to do with the sca?

[@caper2x]

@@gatome4458 Actually, this is an example of Filking. The music of fantasy and science fiction literature. Although Leslie Fish has participated in SCA events. Her songs tend to be inspired by Space, history, fantasy, and Sci-Fi books.

[@alexiswilliamsinc]

@@caper2x Gorgeous story & gorgeous voice

[@atropabelladonna12]

Wow, did not expect to find a 12 minute song that made me completely weep tonight. Damn...I wish I found this song sooner.

[@kuro_neko5863]

Look up 'Some Kind of Hero', 'Sam Jones', and 'Darkness' (that last one is probably going to be hard to search for, so add Julia Ecklar to it). They'll probably move you, if this one did.

[@Kiraleen22]

I've heard it live. It was amazing.

[@PyroGothNerd]

@@kuro_neko5863 Oh man, "Some Kind of Hero" always gets me!

[@redvalentinos1933]

Hit me hard the first time I heard it, too

[@coalcreekdefense8106]

This is what always happens when you give a kid a tablet. Twenty minutes and they're using it better than you can.

[@MinecraftNerd1985]

Hahaha!

[@Paul_Sergeyev]

That's an entire story in this comment

[@A-slime]

Dang normally I'd look at a song longer than 5 minutes and question the sanity of the singer but holly shit this is good

[@peach7210]

Beautiful telling of a majestic tale set to perfect music and delivered with a voice that was born to deliver it. Enchanting and endearing.

[@ettinakitten5047]

Interesting that 1 in 10 horses would come to her, and the wizards took 1 in 10 children. Do those horses have magic, too?

[@EllAntares]

​@Leslie Fish I sometimes wonder what Andrew Norton and Marion Bradley though of each other's work. There were perfectly matching themes shared by them.

[@ladymystica7765]

sure... horses ARE magic

[@toothedacorn4724]

There's also 7 mares, 1 stallion, 1 girl and 1 mirror =10

[@toothedacorn4724]

Oh, having listened again today, the wizards seem to worship 1 main god and 9 lesser gods, 1 in 10

[@TheAndroia]

Memories of years of reading the many books by MZB. Still have most of those old books.

[@Lukiel666]

Aye.

[@ModdingNewbie]

MZB = Marion Zimmer Bradley, perchance?

[@stormwing8611]

Could you by chance tell me the name of the books? They seem really good

[@MrChoas966]

@@stormwing8611 the darkover chronicles(sic) if you google darkover books you'll find what you need

[@stormwing8611]

@@MrChoas966 thank you!!!

[@RedwoodTheElf]

This isn't the audio from the album "Horsetamer" by the way. In that version the line is much closer to "Have done, have done, ye nine have won" (Since it was 8 horses and one girl, that makes a lot more sense.)

[@jenniferweston7621]

The 'One' in the original version refers to the mirror/ screen.

[@leftwardglobe1643]

For those who want the chords, this is how I play it, it's different and a bit slower, but I like it and it's easier (if you want the original chords, just look up Horse Tamer's Daughter PDF and it should pull up a link to a songbook that contains it as the first result): Am G Am C G Am My father was a horsetamer on the edge of Hali Plain. C G Am E His work was good and his horses fine, but we got little gain. Am G Am C G Am For few come now to Hali Town; the trade has gone away, C And the distant glower of the G Am E Am Ruined tower makes few now care to stay. C G Am E So poor we were, but free we were, as the horses on the Plain. Am G Am C G Am And I was a child as free and wild as the wind in my tangled mane. Am C Am G Am For I'll never wear red robes, I'll never wear a blue stone. Am C Am G Am The ruined tower stands, abandoned and alone. C G Am E But when the moons are high, and the wind is roaring free, Am G Am C G Am When I send my silent call, wild horses come to me.

[@Remoniq]

Makes me feel like I'm in a fantasy tavern with some ale in front of me.

[@stephaniest.5336]

Is it me or does the singer feel sad that th wizards have made her the guardian of the tower because of her druidic abilities, ie merging her mind with those of the wild horses?

[@shelliewalker9704]

Makes sense, seeing as she never wanted to be the keeper of the tower. The line "They've made of me what I feared to be" makes it quite clear she didn't want it.

[@aislynnalifano2135]

I think she is regretful that towns folk have placed the burden on her when she wants to be free. After all the wizards leave and it is the town people who provide the hay and wood.

[@sarinaamy]

I always did think that she was a Druid rather than a wizard

[@Phyrenia]

Wizards: Try to take over a village of innocent people Horsetamers daughter: I'm gonna end these guys whole career Wizards: Why do I hear boss music? Edit: Wow! I make a joke on a filksong comment section, and I get the most likes I have ever gotten on a comment! What a community!

[@d.b.624]

Wizard: By careful study and stewardship, we have built our power to this level, and can assault the tower. Sorceror: WHAT DOES THIS DO HOLY $%%@BALLS I'M POWERFUL WHAT EVEN IS OVERKILL COME AT ME BRO Wizards: ...whatever, your tower is ugly anyway.

[@dr.rodabthicc]

Sorceror: and stay gone you filthy overlords!

[@coalcreekdefense8106]

Perfect summary. 😂

[@Kpimpmaster]

Druid: FORCES OF NATURE GIVE ME YOUR POWER!!! Basically what she did

[@richardvantoorenburg4269]

Very nice! Reminds me of the "Star Of County Down" which is a good thing :-)

[@rebsarge]

Absolutely enchanting and entraping! Just what I needed in this fell mood.

[@maxthibodeau3627]

i like all her space shanties.

[@pouncelygrin6699]

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful

[@tiffanieclinkinbeard7170]

Bravo! Bravo! That was superb!

[@ModdingNewbie]

Why is it that so many people dream of using raw emotion as a weapon of war, whether in causes either righteous or unrighteous?

[@wanderdragon1075]

ModdingNewbie1974 because war is largely a matter of emotion. It’s almost never a thing that’s logical to do. Hate, fear, hope, love, determination... these are what spark and drive wars

[@PointsofData]

Because emotions are intense, personal...theyre ultimately a large part of what drives our decisions. Training yourself to control your emotions can be just as difficult as training yourself to fight with a weapon, even harder for some since its...well it's you fighting against yourself.

[@icegirl246]

Our physical bodies are used to carry out the will of our minds and hearts, but unfortunately our physical bodies cannot always succeed. It's a fairly worldwide concept of ones soul being trapped in their own body, seeing as physically reality has limitations while our minds seem to grow endlessly and our hearts can love beyond our concern for ones own life. I think many people dream of their emotions and thoughts having a direct effect on the world because it makes them feel free of the rules reality

[@icegirl246]

Rules of reality*

[@aislynnalifano2135]

People do use emotions as weapons. Think of all the verbal and emotional abuse cases. I bet there was a time words and emotions hurt you. Books like these allow us to see understand the power we have in our relationships to others and hopefully use them for good. In the books The Compact was created which made it illegal to use any weapon that did not put the user in equal danger. No psych weapons, guns, arrows etc.

[@countsnowyofgwainn3996]

dang, this song blew me away :)

[@hekaterose7307]

Now I get why the universe keeps throwing this at me what ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌

[@ryanwatt6706]

See this is why you don't fuck with horse girls. I've never read the book but all I needed to know lol

[@ragnarlundin1579]

thus IS great shindig deepyl and truly perfectly so well presented thank you 🌌

[@christopheraliaga-kelly6254]

The ancient Scythians, from northern Iran were not only nomadic but were supposed to value horses and the nobility & royalty carried mirrors, as did their successors, the Sarmatians, also known as Iazyges & Roxelani who also came from northern Iran and fought against the Romans. A band of them were recruited by one Marcus Artorius and ended up at BREMMETENACUM, now called Ribchester, Lancashire.

[@claudeyaz]

Yup. And it's really cool how horses first started out as life stock for eating more similar to short runky horse like pigs.. And the human breeding them made them rightable slowly over years

[@BewareTheCarpenter]

I've never liked the idea that one teenage prodigy can fight numerous adults who've had extensive training but there could be a deeper story here. I doubt that collecting tax from poor, backwater towns is glamorous so it's probable they sent a handful of 4th rate novices who couldn't be useful anywhere else. If that was the case though they'd come home and tell their masters what happened and fairly soon a real archmage would show up to take a new apprentice or a concubine to produce powerful babies or to just take the mirror. The fact that this didn't happen implies maybe these low-ranking wizards were exiles or runaways who'd been caught trying to cheat on a test or steal something and so they went on the run. They knew there was a remote town that wasn't worth collecting tribute from so they wouldn't cross paths with their vengeful former masters but they could collect the tribute for themselves and live off that. They met the horse tamers daughter who kicked them out and they hit the road again looking for a place they can stay. They don't have the power to take the horse tamers daughter or her mirror but the information of their existence/ location could be a valuable bartering chip in trying to convince a new tower to take in some strays IF anyone believed them.

[@d.b.624]

Nothing more dangerous than an untrained fighter; they don't know what they *can't* do, so there's no predicting their moves. The wizards couldn't fight her without risking more than they wanted.

[@ettinakitten5047]

I don't think this town is actually clearly part of the mage's kingdom anymore. I think it's right on the border and has changed hands because of war, and the wizards were trying to collect tribute from a town that is in disputed territory. Facing opposition from both the locals and from the neighboring kingdom was enough to push them out.

[@sidhebane]

The impression I got was that taxes weren't actually mentioned anywhere - the nobles collect taxes, the wizards collect (presumably-talented) children

[@TheAchilles26]

To be fair, this teenager wasn't really alone. The eight horses were also mages, so it was a druids' circle roflstomping more traditional wizards. That and the mirror is probably the magical equivalent of a nuke

[@TheAchilles26]

@@d.b.624, untrained fighters are only dangerous to barely trained fighters. They're not half as unpredictable as that myth loves to claim.

[@ragnarlundin1579]

gotta listen to you right again

[@ragnarlundin1579]

...thank you / and again nd again it is so rivetting as destiny herself 4us mortals !

[@the_obvious8336]

amazing. and amazingly great.

[@christopheraliaga-kelly6254]

The Chinese were very dissatisfied with their indigenous horses and sought the best from the people's of the 'Sea of Grass' that they called the "Hsiung-Nu". With their horses the peoples headed west and called themselves "Huns", or "The Peoples" that included the Bulgars and the Magyars, among others, some of whom formed some of the Bulgarians and the Hungarians, who were named after the Onogurs, another horse-people. The mounted warrior is one of the great figures of European and Asian culture. Indeed, Alexander the Great married an Amazonian warrior queen, one Zaran. The quintessential female warrior, the Amazon originated as a Scythian mounted warrior, with bow and arrows.

[@derkeksimperator]

Wow I like the way you sing and play :3

[@gabrieljett9833]

Lost Carcosa lies on Lake Hali... just in case anyone was wondering...

[@roxanneconner7185]

Thanks :) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcosa

[@anonymouswitness3835]

I like this version better. Does anyone know of a way I can (legally) buy and download this version?

[@JamenofPern]

Julia ecklar Horsetamer through various sources including firebird music

[@anonymouswitness3835]

@@JamenofPern That's a different version. I listened to it on bandcamp and it wasn't the same. I like this less-produced, slower version.

[@elig9401]

@@anonymouswitness3835 There isn't a purchasable version of this version (that's why we re-recorded it). But there's also an acoustic live performance on Julia's "Indistinguishable from Magic" live album we released last summer.

[@shineyluna1268]

Ok so. fish wrote this, and ecklar sings it? Did i get that right?

[@redvalentinos1933]

I believe so, according to everything I found. If I made an error, I apologize.

[@jo-ellenbass2261]

That is correct. It is based on the Darkover series by Marian Zimmer Bradley.

[@ragnarlundin1579]

gods I love your voice bless you

[@Draco9909]

Do you say corn and cloth at 11:42 instead of corn and grain like the lyrics say?

[@Imalwayswatching3]

Yea, its corn and cloth

[@isaiahj4879]

I love this song and have listened to it for years, but the recent addition of the ad right in the middle doesn’t exactly improve the listening experience

[@redvalentinos1933]

I know, I'm sorry. KZbin slaps ads on 10 second videos, it drives me nuts.

[@ragnarlundin1579]

j am so soo proud of you now 😇😘

[@martinamonicamaestas6108]

I referenced you on the video of the "Broken Sword", a Lord of the Rings documentarists story line explanation, in depth. More than one of the same. Also, Traveler.Song Video by the Aviators.

[@wanderdragon1075]

9 and 1? I count only 9. What’s the one they’re referring to? “Have done, have done ye nine and one”

[@redvalentinos1933]

I think they may be counting the mirror "Just seven mares, the stallion bold, the magic mirror and me"

[@wanderdragon1075]

Red Valentinos yeah that was my thought too

[@josephcourtright8071]

The lyric is 9-in-1, not 9-and-1. Its a mistake on the video. Cause of where the emphasis in the words are I could see how one would hear that. They bound their souls. In the wizard fight they where 1 in spirit and mind, but there was 9 of them present.

[@redvalentinos1933]

@@josephcourtright8071 some lyric reads say 9 in 1, some say 9 and 1. It could go either way. But i hear 9 and 1. I hear the "d" in and.

[@bhikshu738]

@@redvalentinos1933 I'm inclined to believe the "nine-and-one" lyric, as it suggests that there is much, MUCH more to the Mirror than the protagonist suspects, which is entirely in keeping with the rest of the song.

[@possumorb4008]

Your voice is like that of gods

[@Kpimpmaster]

My advice for the Daughter “Sometimes responsibilities can be a prison in and of themselves”

[@LullabiesofAlaura]

Umm I think I came up with a dnd one shot

[@ettinakitten5047]

I feel like this would be fitting in the Dark Sun setting. They've got a lot of tyrant wizards.

[@draguta8995]

If you're interested in DnD games becoming written stories, you might be interested in "The Sleeping King" by Cindy Dees. It's the first novel of a DnD game that was turned into a book series.

[@pathemeleski]

Over the PLAINS, not the planes.

[@SerenaRacine-n8s]

I think that the girl might have been strong enough to only call 1 in 10. As she has magic powers

[@draguta8995]

Not necessarily. The magicians who came took the 1-in-10 children based on their ability to wield magic, willing or otherwise. On the other hand, the girl sent out a call for volunteers and got a total of 8 willing. So it's not that she limited her call to a specific number so much as she expanded her call to the entire plain that she could reach, and 8 volunteered to defend it with her.

[@therealpatagonianpancakes]

Knowing about MZB I really don't wanna know what those wizards wanted the kids for...

[@asarie7599]

What's the name of the movie??????

[@aislynnalifano2135]

There is not one yet. It comes from the Darkover book series.

[@chrislevesque5642]

❤this belongs on Disney credits

[@MediocreHexPeddler]

No, this is far better than Disney's work.

[@ragnarlundin1579]

may pisces protect you so for ever my Leslie Fish 🔥 gal you're a godsend 😃⚡

[@christopheraliaga-kelly6254]

In the "Apocalypse of St John the Divine" one of the best-known images is that of the 4 Horsemen: White, with a bow and arrow-Eastern War, the horse-archer Red, with a sword-Western war-a Roman cavalryman with his long sword, the "spatha" Black, with scales -Famine. Pale grey-"The Death" or Pestilence. This arrangement of horses is the reverse of the values of the different colours in central Asia-How did "St John the Divine" get this information when he was stuck on the island of Patmos in the Aegean? Check out the Osprey book "Attila and the Nomad horsemen" for more info!

[@svihl666]

[@peterwall8191]

Hali? And it went over your collective heads did it not? Sigh! Am i the only lovecraft fan here? Hali people lake hali in Karkossa , the abode of the king in Yellow! Elder gods bless you, its a tribute to the one who started the ball rolling.

[@coalcreekdefense8106]

Carcosa and Hali were actually names coined by Ambrose Bierce, along with Hastur(another version of this song references Hastur). This song is based on the Darkover novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley, so the names in the song reference places in the books, but I'm not sure if Bradley took inspiration from Bierce, Lovecraft, or maybe Robert W. Chambers' "The King in Yellow," which also uses all these names. But as far as I can tell, they all originate in Bierce's work. This song led me down a rabbit hole of really cool literature, and I still haven't reached the bottom yet.

[@samanthaparker2702]

Kamakaze #loxchatterbox #sushiiboiis Hourglass ☮ 💖 😊 ☯️ ♾ Hourglass

[@tonyk8368]

Does the linked album have this exact version of the song, the 12:44 version? I don't see a preview of it, but the album cover matches that of the song on bandcamp, which is the 12:20 version. Anyone know how to legally obtain a copy of the album with the 12:44 version here on it? juliaecklar.bandcamp.com/track/the-horsetamers-daughter

[@TreespeakerOfTheLand]

The album linked in the description is the same as the one on bandcamp, as far as I can tell. Horsetamer's Daughter runs for 12:20 on my CD and I bought it at Prometheus Music, same page as the link. Also, Nitro Rad puts it nicely in his Kuon game review: it's about availability. If a game (or music) is not legally available, people are gonna get it illegally. See his explanation here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnK6qYCPqp1nbac

[@TreespeakerOfTheLand]

Just found a version that is more alike to this video. It's the live version on Julia's live album Indistinguishable from Magic and it's on spotify as well as Bandcamp. So you can listen to it before you buy ;)