Don't tease God...

... or else you'll be forced to wander the earth with a cross burnt into your forehead, telling of your fate. Or, more appropriately for our reading, you'll have a deformed twin growing out of your abdomen. Such seems to be the author's implications in "The two inseparable brothers." This ballad is set to "The wandering Jewes Chronicle," the story of the man who shouted at Christ while he was on the cross. The tale goes that this man is the "Wandering Jew" and is forced to wander the earth telling his story, and it is found in many forms throughout literature, such as Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and there are even connections to the famed ghost ship "The Flying Dutchman." Given the Renaissance view on monstrous births, it is almost certain that a conjoined twin, especially one so deformed, was viewed as a sign from God, mostly likely his wrath towards either the fully formed twin, the parents of the twins, or England as a whole. In this way, the fully formed twin would have been the Wandering Jew, the deformed twin the burning cross on his forehead, his burden to bear and story to tell. Both stories involve a man bearing the burden of sin in a physical manifestation, traveling and sharing his tale, his life serving as a warning against tempting the wrath of God. I found it very interesting the author created this subtle link simply by setting this ballad to the Wandering Jew tune, but perhaps it would have been a link more easily recognized by the original audience.