First Stanza:
The narrator alerts that the infant is coming and then it sets the scene. Here the inf ant comes surrounded by wealth and beauty all far beyond and above (a loose- but accurate- interpretation of the word astride) what her true lineage ("her father's line") could have ever offered.
Second Stanza:
This stanza goes into even greater details about the procession. There are five score (20) elephants all carrying royalty on their back in palanquin. The narrator points out "Look, there's the duke's daughters!" And there, right by them on the back of another elephant, is the Baron and Baroness." The Baroness, who cannot bear children herself, is rather angry that the king is putting on this massive grandiose parade for this infant. And perhaps, she's even a bit upset that this child wasn't given to her... (When you are done reading my interpretation, see the post script about the Baroness. It'll only make sense when you've read through the other stanzas first though.)
Third Stanza:
After the elephants come 30 ranks of soldiers, all marching in the parade with their banners gleaming in the sunlight. Behind them is a carriage carrying the Moorish King's wives and the Prince's (the Kings soon.) future virginal wife.
Fourth Stanza:
The infant looks innocent upon the back of the elephant while, all around her, trumpets are trumpeting and cannons are firing salutes and the crowds are cheering for her.
Fifth Stanza:
THIS is the stanza which acts as a key to unlocking the entire song so pay attention!
So here we are: the narrator has described this MASSIVE extravagant parade for this child.
The narrator says that this entire procession is foolish nonsense because the narrator knows the truth:
That infant is no princess or goddess come to earth. She was a commoner's child placed in a basket made from the branches of trees ("a bed made of chaparral") and had a circlet (or possibly even a garland made of flowers or vines) placed upon her head and then set afloat down the river. The basket ended up in a lake where she was pulled out and was then adopted by the royal family...
Sound familiar? The trope of setting an unwanted baby (or forbidden baby) down a river has been repeated in mythology over and over: Moses, Karna, Sargon, Telephus and so forth.
In most mythologies, the child is ordered to be killed by the king because he believes that, one day, that child will bring him harm or overthrow him. The parents, or sometimes the people sent to murder the infant, not wanting to kill the child instead set it afloat in the river so that its fate is out of their hands. Of course, the child has a great destiny so fate makes it to where the child is rescued. Of course, this then allows for the prophecy to come true. (In this sense, you can look beyond the "baby floating down the river" and draw even more parallels with other children that survived-despite-the-king's-orders such as Oedipus and Jesus!)
At this point, you can now interpret the song in one of two ways:
The narrator is related to the child and knows about the hoodwink that was pulled. This is supported by the first stanza: "All astride on her father's line." The narrator knows hat she is being treated well beyond her actual pedigree. The narrator, and possibly even the crowds, are cheering in joy that the plan worked and the child was not only saved but given a better life.
Or, you can interpret the narrator as not being involved. He's just an observer describing everything and we, the listener, have pieced it all together.
This song is about the beginning of a new legend: this child was, probably for some grave reason, set afloat and has been rescued by the royal family. Now she is assured a life of privilege... In fact, she may have even been mistaken as being the child of or the reincarnation of a god! Does it get any better than that?
In time, this child may even grow up to save all those commoners that are standing out there and cheering for her... hence why they've all come to praise her. :)
(P.S. About the seething Baroness: she is possibly upset that this kid was not given to her despite the fact she is barren. Or, she could also suspect that this child is not a god's child so she feels this parade is stupid. Or even both... For example: she might be thinking along the lines of "Hey, that infant isn't special and, if you knew it, you'd have left her there to die... but I'd have loved her regardless since I can't bear any kids of my own. But oooh no.... here you go getting all carried away and throwing this f***ing parade... bah humbug.")
First Stanza: The narrator alerts that the infant is coming and then it sets the scene. Here the inf ant comes surrounded by wealth and beauty all far beyond and above (a loose- but accurate- interpretation of the word astride) what her true lineage ("her father's line") could have ever offered.
Second Stanza: This stanza goes into even greater details about the procession. There are five score (20) elephants all carrying royalty on their back in palanquin. The narrator points out "Look, there's the duke's daughters!" And there, right by them on the back of another elephant, is the Baron and Baroness." The Baroness, who cannot bear children herself, is rather angry that the king is putting on this massive grandiose parade for this infant. And perhaps, she's even a bit upset that this child wasn't given to her... (When you are done reading my interpretation, see the post script about the Baroness. It'll only make sense when you've read through the other stanzas first though.)
Third Stanza: After the elephants come 30 ranks of soldiers, all marching in the parade with their banners gleaming in the sunlight. Behind them is a carriage carrying the Moorish King's wives and the Prince's (the Kings soon.) future virginal wife.
Fourth Stanza: The infant looks innocent upon the back of the elephant while, all around her, trumpets are trumpeting and cannons are firing salutes and the crowds are cheering for her.
Fifth Stanza: THIS is the stanza which acts as a key to unlocking the entire song so pay attention! So here we are: the narrator has described this MASSIVE extravagant parade for this child. The narrator says that this entire procession is foolish nonsense because the narrator knows the truth: That infant is no princess or goddess come to earth. She was a commoner's child placed in a basket made from the branches of trees ("a bed made of chaparral") and had a circlet (or possibly even a garland made of flowers or vines) placed upon her head and then set afloat down the river. The basket ended up in a lake where she was pulled out and was then adopted by the royal family... Sound familiar? The trope of setting an unwanted baby (or forbidden baby) down a river has been repeated in mythology over and over: Moses, Karna, Sargon, Telephus and so forth. In most mythologies, the child is ordered to be killed by the king because he believes that, one day, that child will bring him harm or overthrow him. The parents, or sometimes the people sent to murder the infant, not wanting to kill the child instead set it afloat in the river so that its fate is out of their hands. Of course, the child has a great destiny so fate makes it to where the child is rescued. Of course, this then allows for the prophecy to come true. (In this sense, you can look beyond the "baby floating down the river" and draw even more parallels with other children that survived-despite-the-king's-orders such as Oedipus and Jesus!)
At this point, you can now interpret the song in one of two ways: The narrator is related to the child and knows about the hoodwink that was pulled. This is supported by the first stanza: "All astride on her father's line." The narrator knows hat she is being treated well beyond her actual pedigree. The narrator, and possibly even the crowds, are cheering in joy that the plan worked and the child was not only saved but given a better life.
Or, you can interpret the narrator as not being involved. He's just an observer describing everything and we, the listener, have pieced it all together.
This song is about the beginning of a new legend: this child was, probably for some grave reason, set afloat and has been rescued by the royal family. Now she is assured a life of privilege... In fact, she may have even been mistaken as being the child of or the reincarnation of a god! Does it get any better than that? In time, this child may even grow up to save all those commoners that are standing out there and cheering for her... hence why they've all come to praise her. :)
(P.S. About the seething Baroness: she is possibly upset that this kid was not given to her despite the fact she is barren. Or, she could also suspect that this child is not a god's child so she feels this parade is stupid. Or even both... For example: she might be thinking along the lines of "Hey, that infant isn't special and, if you knew it, you'd have left her there to die... but I'd have loved her regardless since I can't bear any kids of my own. But oooh no.... here you go getting all carried away and throwing this f***ing parade... bah humbug.")