Follow the River

Content Warning: This section includes discussions of wartime atrocities and physical and psychological suffering.

Mary makes up a song set to “the tune of an old favorite [Irish] ballad of her mother’s” to keep her spirits up during her time in captivity and on her way home (135). The lyrics, which appear throughout the story, are as follows: “But I’ll be home a-gain. O ten times t-en times ten a-way, I will O my Will, O my darrr-lin’” (135). This song is a motif that recalls travels home. During her trek back to Draper’s Falls, Mary sings the song to remind her of her goal: to return home to her husband. After Ghetel attacks Mary and is looking for her in the dark, Mary overhears Ghetel singing the ten times ten song as well, revealing the duo’s connection even in times of tension. When Mary is finally safe in the Harmon’s cabin, Adam overhears her chanting it to herself as a form of self-soothing. This demonstrates the song’s connection with the theme of Love and Faith as a Source of Strength.

The meaning of the song is first hinted at in Chapter 1 when Mary’s mother, Elenor Draper, tells Mary’s sons, Tommy and Georgie, that she came on a boat from County Donegal, Ireland, which is “ten times ten times ten” times as far across the water as the distance from their encampment to the mountains (12).