The meaning of the rhyme from LoC

[Forshookt]

"The lions sing and the hills take flight

The moon by day and the sun by night

Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool

Let the Lord of Chaos rule" 

 

At first I thought this rhyme was just a cool way to insert the title. But then I got to thinking about the words used and such. So let me explain line by line what I think it means.

 

"The lions sing and the hills take flight"

For me, I think this alludes to male channelers and the Breaking. Note that RJ use the word lions instead of lionesses. Of course, lions is the word in general for these animals, but it is most perceived and understood as male. So male lions "singing". Now, saidin has often been described when wielded as " his blood sang with the One Power" or some such. Please tell if I am remembering this correctly. But mostly, its the Old Blood that is described as "singing" and Rand, male channeler number one, has that. The most salient reason for me believing that this line is about the breaking is the notion of landscape fleeing from male animals. 

 

"The moon by day and the sun by night" could represent the total upheaval of natural order and laws during the breaking, as even things as certain and day and night are thrown to the winds.

 

The "Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool" to me are Latra Posae Decume, a woman too blind to see the need for the deaf man's, Lews Therin's, plan. The Dragon meanwhile was too deaf to heed the caution that Latra espoused. And so he is also the jackdaw fool who "Let the Lord of Chaos rule". And we all know who THAT is.

 

The fact that this poem is used by children as a street game to me means that either the Fourth Age is so peaceful that the memories of the Breaking are now nothing more than children's games, or that thy are hyper aware of the dangers posed by the breaking and instill this knowledge to children through rhymes, much like how fairy tales are moralistic lessons.

 

Any thoughts? I would love to discuss alternate interpretations with others!

[solarz]

That's an interesting interpretation, though the metaphors are a bit too stretchy for my taste.

 

The "blind woman" and the "deaf man" reminds me of a joke about a couple who had been married for 60 years and never argued with one another. The woman was blind, and the man was deaf.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

If you google the quote you'll find a lot of discussion about it, lots of it at theoryland where they probably get more into it than here, and so,e here, such as this thread

 

https://dragonmount.com/forums/topic/18637-the-lions-sing-and-the-hills-take-flight/

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

While it might refer to specific incidents, people, places, things, I think it's mainly a representation of chaos. 

 

A little biblical allegory iwth with the sun and moon standing still and such, but overall, things are just in opposite or bizzaro world, aka chaos. 

Edited March 7, 2018 by Mrs. Cindy Gill

[Forshookt]

1 minute ago, Mrs. Cindy Gill said:

If you google the quote you'll find a lot of discussion about it, lots of it at theoryland where they probably get more into it than here, and so,e here, such as this thread

 

https://dragonmount.com/forums/topic/18637-the-lions-sing-and-the-hills-take-flight/

 Thank you! Will check this out right away!

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Im afraid it's kind of short, but it sums up a few opinions and some of t makes sense, and welcome.

[solarz]

Here's my take:

 

The lions sing and the hills take flight

The lions may refer to Andor, and the hills may refer to Cairhien. Remember that Cairhien was known as Al'cair'rahienallen, meaning "Hill of the Golden Dawn". This line may refer to Andor and Cairhien mobilizing for the Last Battle.

 

Another possibility is this refers to the Aiel invasion of Cairhien. The Aiel are known to sing when going to battle.

 

The moon by day and the sun by night

I think this is a reference to "twice dawns the day" in the Karaethon Cycle.

 

Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool

I think this refers to the men and women who ignore the coming of the Last Battle. We've seen that a lot of the troubles in the world come from people who don't believe the Last Battle is coming and continue to maneuver for their own ambitions. This fits well with the next line.

 

Let the Lord of Chaos rule

In the 3rd Age, this saying was only known to Darkfriends. Perhaps in the 4th Age, like the rhyme for the game of Snakes and Foxes, the saying is part of a game that recreates the events surrounding the Last Battle.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I think the blind deaf thing is a reference to this old joke

 

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.

Michel de Montaigne

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I think the whole thing is just chaos, end of days standard stuff, and the lord of chaos of course the bringer of the apocalypse, Rand, and idk that there's any more meaning than that.

[Forshookt]

I would agree with the notion that its just standard end of days and chaos stuff, but none of the opening excerpts or snippets from literature in Randland at begin a book are that simplistic. They always reference or allude to something. 

[Forshookt]

8 hours ago, solarz said:

Here's my take:

 

The lions sing and the hills take flight

The lions may refer to Andor, and the hills may refer to Cairhien. Remember that Cairhien was known as Al'cair'rahienallen, meaning "Hill of the Golden Dawn". This line may refer to Andor and Cairhien mobilizing for the Last Battle.

 

Another possibility is this refers to the Aiel invasion of Cairhien. The Aiel are known to sing when going to battle.

 

I like this alternate interpretation, but particularly your take on the first line. I never even thought of that, but may I add that I still think it's about male channelers, but this time in regards to Ashaman. Andor is where the Ashaman train and have their headquarters and when they first appear in Cairhien the literally move earth!