To the background of village celebrations a father questions his daughter about a suspected lover. She cleverly deflects him with her answers but the passions rise, the villagers take sides and what began as harmless banter becomes bitter and angry. Inarticulate with rage the father mounts his horse and the male villagers set out to begin a cycle of violence seemingly without end. In this traditional Nordic song a pattern of developing and irrevocable anger emerges which we are familiar with both in domestic violence and international conflict. Set to the song Father and Daughter by Percy Grainger.