Since  dahguns showed an interest in my unpublished novels, I decided it wouldn't hurt to give an occasional excerpt from them. Of course, if the novels ever get published, there's a possibility these excerpts won't match the final product.

Coyote Folk Song is from the second novel, Isen's Bane. At this point, Baksrit and an Artemin mouse opossum named Kyrinn have stopped at a traders' camp for the night. There, two coyotes prepare to sing a folk song.

Things to Note: This particular snippet is one of my dad's favorite parts of both novels because of an extra layer of meaning he caught in the first draft. When he brought it to my attention, I revised this section to further build upon that meaning. As strange as it may seem, I didn't originally intend for that extra layer of meaning to be there.

The two coyotes' song was inspired by actual English and Irish folk songs sung by street musicians. Another inspiration was the nursery rhyme "Rub-a-dub-dub" (an early 1825 version is shown below):

"Hey! rub-a-dub, ho! rub-a-dub, three maids in a tub,
"And who do you think were there?
"The butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker,
"And all of them gone to the fair."

As for the extra layer of meaning, I'll let you figure that one out.

Story © 2010 Marvin E. Fuller