Last week, a short bit of a poem got stuck in my head. If you think about the land of magic, fairies, creatures and wizards, does it lie on the road to heaven or to hell? Neither, it turns out, as Thomas the Rhymer already found out in the 13th century:
Oh see ye not yon narrow road, So thick beset wi' thorns and briers? That is the Path of Righteousness, Though after it but few inquires.
And see ye not yon braid, braid road, That lies across the lily leven? That is the Path of Wickedness, Though some call it the Road to Heaven.
And see ye not yon bonny road That winds about the fernie brae? That is the Road to fair Elfland Where thou and I this night maun gae.
Note to self: Add „On Fairy-Stories“ by J.R.R. Tolkien to reading list.
(PS: I don’t know much about the correct pronounciation of the poem but I do suspect that ye=the and yon=thon because the thorn might have been mistakenly transcribed as y)