B 12 Netherhill
Lady Viridis Aletha Solari
Came a knight in green and white
Riding to Neville's Mill
At the edge of the woods he spied a maid
Who made his heart stand still
Beauty bound him against his will
Her hair was fire tipp'd in ice
Her eyes like a raven's quill
So there the young knight fell fast in love
With the witch of Netherhill
Chorus:
Ay-de-mi, the ravens cry
As they watch the knight ride by
In the grove the whipoorwill
Flies to warn fell Netherhill
Says she "Come with me and my lover be,"
"Come quick, for I cannot stay!"
But a howl filled the air and a voice cried "Beware!"
"Be not fooled, Sir Knight, I pray!
Or repent it to your dying day!"
With forlorn cry the maiden runs
Into the woods she fades away
Standing in the road is a grim-faced crone
Long and lean in her cloak of grey
"I can see the girl has caught your heart
She is both fair and fine
But a fearful creature is she my friend
Both woman and beast entwined
A golden cup fill'd with poisoned wine
You'll be at her mercy night and day
Unto your death you'll pine
Your only hope to free you and she
Lies in these hands of mine"
She says, "Young man, I have a power
Unlike wizard, sage or priest
I made this blade of silver and glass
Bound in the air of the east
On the eve of Saint Hubert's feast
A knife of spirits, a sacred charm
To divide the lady from the beast
Plunge this knife into her spell-bound heart
From her curse she'll be released
In a grove ring'd round with stones
He finds the maiden wild and free
"O Man, if you swear your love for true
You may enter and lay with me
In the hollow of yon willow tree
But if you give me words of love
And I hear dishonesty
Then you'll never pass these sacred stones
But lay beneath them eternally!"
"My love is like the storming sea
It burns within me like the sun
I vow to you that my heart is true
I am bound by the the spell you've spun!
And I will never be undone!"
"O come to me, my gallant knight,
For in truth my own heart is won
Come sit with me 'gainst that willow tree
Let our two hearts beat as one."
‘Neath his cloak of he draws the knife
Which the crone has blessed
O, how easy slips that silvered knife
Into he lily-white breast
As the sun dies in the west
On his pale brow for evermore
Her blood-stained kiss is pressed
No maiden holds he to his heart
Only fox-fur to his chest
"I could not enter this sacred grove
That with love that fox had bound,"
The knight turns to face the hell-red eyes
And the baying of a grey-skinned hound
The crone's voice echoes all around
"Thank you for wielding that knife for me
I've run my foe to ground!
She protected herself and the power here
'Til a fool in love I found!"
"You swore your love in honest truth
With her love you entered in
With love you slew the grove's guardian
After all these years I finally win!
I'm freed from my mortal skin
I'd mount your horse now, my dear young knight,"
She says with a loathsome grin
"This grove belongs to me and mine
And I'm about to call my kin!"
Aye-de-mi
The ravens cry…
Performer(s) Viridis Aletha Solari