The Mountain King, Song # 4: Time Feels So Long
This is blog no. 4 about our album The Mountain King. Recorded at Wall of Sound Studio in Albuquerque. Mountain Door is performed by Scott Darsee, fretless bass and Johanna Hongell-Darsee, vocals.
You can hear the full song on our Recordings page.
In this part of the Scandinavian Medeival Ballad the girl has followed the Mountain King into his mountain.
Now, if this would ever happen to you, that you meet a handsome troll in the woods and follow him into his (or her) lair, you will be fine as long as you do not eat or drink anything. If you do, you will forget who you are and stay in this otherworld the rest of your days.
In this ballad the girl is given something to drink from a golden horn.
He gave her to drink from a golden horn. - Time feels so long She forgot who she was, where she was born -It is I who must bear this sorrow
“Where were you born, where is your place?
- Time feels so long Where have you lived all of your days?”
-It is I who must bear this sorrow
“In the mountain I was born, here is my place.
- Time feels so long This is where I lived all of my days.”
-It is I who must bear this sorrow
The Mountain King took her by the hand,
- Time feels so long and led her to his silken bed so grand.
-It is I who must bear this sorrow
The other thing that is typical for this kind of story, and that can be found in myths from all over the world, is time distortion.
The person entering the other world might experience just one day, but upon reentering the ordinary world often finds that years, decades, even centuries have past. Or the person might experience several years in the other world and upon coming back out, only a few minutes have passed.
This is suggested in the refrain or omkväde in this ballad: Time feels so long.
The second omkväde gives a foreboding of tragedy. We do not really know who this "I" is. Is it the singer, or one of the protagonists of the story? As so many of these refrains, the question is not answered which leaves large room for imagination.
