This song is about the last part of the story of folk tale of The Crane Wife when the husband's curiosity gets the better of him and he has to look in on his wife doing her work to discover how she is creating the beautiful silken cloth with no thread or materials other than her loom. Finding the crane in that room and seeing her ripping out her feathers to weave them into the cloth he realizes she is the crane who he saved. Watching her fly away he is filled with regret and shame ("And, I will hang my head... hang my head low.") knowing that he was causing her harm despite his love for her.
This song is about the last part of the story of folk tale of The Crane Wife when the husband's curiosity gets the better of him and he has to look in on his wife doing her work to discover how she is creating the beautiful silken cloth with no thread or materials other than her loom. Finding the crane in that room and seeing her ripping out her feathers to weave them into the cloth he realizes she is the crane who he saved. Watching her fly away he is filled with regret and shame ("And, I will hang my head... hang my head low.") knowing that he was causing her harm despite his love for her.