From the Old City

From the Old City is an old folk song of sorts originating from the Tumoria area. The song has many variants that usually just change the gender of the song's narrator or the other focal character in the song, but the general "plot" of the song remains constant across common variants.
In the song, the singer follows the person from an old city to a place of chains, where "no one is free" -- people imprisoned everywhere throughout the city. The old city native isn't bothered at all by the sights, but the singer, after they leave the place of chains, finally asks the name of where they left behind, whereupon the person from the old city laughs and responds with a now-somewhat famous line:
"You silly girl -- it's called reality!"
The song has been passed down orally for over two hundred years. The original writer is unknown, and it's thought that the song may actually predate the Godbomb, which would mean that the person from the old city was not meant to be from an actual "old city," just an old city in general. However, the accidental similarity in the line took on additional meaning after the Godbomb and the term "old city" became a proper phrase with a very particular definition.
==Lyrics==
: I once met a girl from the old city;she beamed and told me, 'Now, ain't you pretty?Come walk with me; we'll roam the land,city to city and hand-in-hand.'
: I took her arm, and soon she led meto a place of chains, where no one is free.She whistled a song, and I sang along,shaking off that something felt wrong.
: The chains were not mine, this I knew,but still I asked, 'What did they do?'My guide said not to stress their fate:if we tarried, we would be late.
: We hurried along the broken road,hastened by danger that did bode.The city was dark, the jingling of chainsechoing far beyond and 'cross the plains.
: Still, I couldn't put it out of mind;I asked the name of where we'd left behind.She glanced my way and laughed with glee:'You silly girl – it's called reality!'
Category:Songs
Category:No Spoilers