Handel's
Harp Concerto--movement 3
In Ireland, being a king,
the ruler must be perfect.
Physically and mentally.
If there was an inperfection then the king was ousted.
Here's a legendary tale of one king...
Labraidh was a well liked king.
All of Ireland loved him. He was perfect.
But, one day, losing his temper he kicked a beast.
A horse. A woman, now a widow witnessed
the king's tempermental torture to the four legged
animal, and placed a curse upon him....
"May you have the two ears of a horse upon you!"
Being that a widow's curse is the strongest
of curses, the king grew two ears of a
horse upon his head. Now, as you know,
a king must be perfect. Labraidh's
predicament from the curse must remain unknown...
he was now no longer physically perfect.
The king took to donning a hat at all times.
But with his yearly haircut, the chosen
barber realized the king's secret. To
keep the secret hidden from his Irish
peons, the king did away with the barber.
His secrets were safe
from the mouths of a dead man.
It was curious that Labraidh's
barber always so abruptly disappeared.
It became difficult to find one
willing to cut his hair. So, wise
that he was, the king held a lottery.
Once, the widow's own son was
chosen to be the barber....the widow,
the one who cursed the king,
knowing why the barbers never returned...
pleaded with the king to spare her son.
Through fear of perhaps another
curse, the son was spared. The son
was to keep the secret through
all eternity of his king's
horse's ears, and he could live.
Well, the son, keeping such a
secret became ill from worry...
holding the truth from the kingdom
was a burden too much.
The son grew ill and took to his bed.
A sage man, a doctor,
told the boy the reason for his ailment.
"You are keeping a secret too bold,
and it's eating at you so that
you've become ill.
If you don't soon tell your secret
to some living thing, you'll soon die."
The widow's son went into
the forest, and told
the secret to a willow tree...
immediately relieved and calmer.
As time passed, the royal harper
needed a new harp.
He chose a willow for the harp's wood.
As the harp was finished,
strung and tuned...
the first time the harper played
for the king's court,
even
the harp
could not keep its secret.
As the harper picked out a tune,
the harp sang out
"Labraidh has horse's ears."
Could this be possible that this harps design is of the
legendary "Brian Boru" of Trinity College?
The harp you see as the official emblem of Ireland?
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The myth was researched from Irish Myth King Labraidh horse's ears...c. mid 500's B.C.
Gaelic History of the Harp
The High King of Ireland
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