Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)

Why are people even debating this?!? The story is clear from the other songs that came before, as well as this song and the booklet...

"And there she came upon A white and wounded fawn Singing: oh, the hazards of love"

-> Margaret find a "wounded fawn" and tries to nurse him back to health.

"The taiga shifted strange The beast began to change Singing: oh, the hazards of love"

-> William turns into his human form.

"But Margaret heaves a sigh Her hands clasped to her thigh Singing: oh, the hazards of love"

-> Margaret is horny and by the "Hazards of love" repetition all throughout the song it's pretty clear that they have consensual sex. Otherwise Margaret would not be clasping her thighs (the body language of a woman who is "excited", not who is about to be raped).

".Thou unconsolable daughter,. said the sister .When wilt thou trouble the water in the cistern? And what irascible blackguard is the father?. And when young Margaret.s waistline grew wider The fruit of her amorous entwine inside her And so our heroine withdraws to the taiga"

-> Margaret is pregnant, people do not know the father, and she runs away to the taiga (where William is) to be with the father of her child.

"Please alert this love of mine Let him know his Margaret comes along"

-> Again... NOT RAPE. She calls William "this love of mine". And calls herself "his Margaret" which is affectionate.

"And all this stirring inside my belly Won.t quell my want for love And I may swoon from all this swelling But I won.t want for love"

-> Perhaps you guys don't know this... But pregnant women get very horny sometimes. VERY horny. Margaret is very pregnant and wants to "be" with William very much.

"I lay you down In clover bed The stars a roof Above our heads

And we'll lie 'til the Corn Crake crows Bereft of the weight of our summer clothes And I'd wager all "

-> William finds Margaret and they finally have sex again.

"He Was a baby abandoned Entombed in a cradle of claim (clay?)

And I was a soul Who took pity And stole him away

And gave him the form of A fawn to inhabit By day "

-> The Queen (some sort of Mother Nature-like figure) gives us the backstory of William: she kidnapped him from his human parents as a baby and made him half fawn (the form Margaret met him in). And now she's annoyed that Margaret is trying to take him away from her.

"And here we died our little deaths And we were left to catch our breaths So swiftly lifting from our chests "

-> Margaret and William both sing about how lovely the forest and the sky are... after they've just climaxed. "Little death" means orgasm.

"And isn't a lovely way We got in from our play Isn't it ? A sweet little baby"

-> Margaret calls what happened between them when they first met (and now) "our play". She was definitely NOT raped, but isn't taking the act as something important, either. They're just "playing".

"Mother hear this proposition right Grant me freedom to enjoy this night And I'll return to you at break of light For the wanting comes in waves And waves And waves Still the wanting comes in waves Still the wanting comes in waves Still the wanting comes in waves And you owe me life And you owe me life "

-> William offers to go back with his mum to the forest if she'll leave him and Margaret alone for one night. "The wanting comes in waves" could stand for either love/tenderness, or him being just as horny as she was.

"Our heroine here falls prey to Her abductor"

-> The Rake (introduced in the song before this one) kidnaps Margaret at the orders of The Queen.

"And you have removed this temptation that's troubled my innocent child To abduct and abuse and to render her rift and defiled But the river is deep to the banks and the water is wild

I will fly you to the far side"

-> The Queen helps The Rake cross the river with a kidnapped Margaret. Perceived as a "troubling temptation".

"Annan water Oh hear my true love's call Hear her holler Above your water's pall God, that I could That my two arms could give me wing And I would cross your breath And rest my breast about her amber ring Her amber ring"

-> William pleads with the river to let him cross over to Margaret and the Rake.

"Oh my own true love! Oh my own true love! Can you hear me, love? Can you hear me, love?"

-> William calls for Margaret while the Rake is trying to scare her. William is coming for her with the same he came for her when she was in the taiga.

"Oh Margaret the lapping waves are licking quietly at our ankles Another bow another breath this brilliant chill's come for the shackle.

With this long last rush of air we speak our vows and sorry whispers, When the waves came crashing down, he closed his eyes and softly kissed her. "

-> After the Rake's kids take revenge on him as ghosts, William and Margaret drown. I... honestly am not sure how this happens or if any more details were given in the booklet or anywhere else. In any case, this would be William's pleading with the river from earlier (he promised his bones if the river would let him pass), catching up to him and Margaret. Thus the guilt in his lines:

"But I pulled you and I called you here, And I caught you and I brought you here These hazards of love, never more will trouble us. And these hazards of love, never more will trouble us."

-> And they all dies. The end. :))