The old crone lived in the forest with her daughter beautiful and kind
When the young men came around for her she kept her daughter so confined
“Are you strong enough to hold her? Can you give more than you take?
Until you prove these things to me, my daughter’s hand you’ll never take.”
“I’m strong enough to hold her, I will give more than I get
If you give your daughter’s hand to me I’ll be forever in your debt.”
The old crone left the room and changed herself into the form
Of her daughter’s body and walked back through the door
Her beauty captured the young man’s heart like a bird inside a snare
He could hardly believe the heaven that confronted him there
“Will you give your life, your love,” she said, “will you give your soul to me?”
“I will give my life, my love,” he said, “I will give my soul to thee.”
At that the old crone laughed and her beauty fell aside
“No man who’d give his soul away will ever have my daughter for his bride.”
The young man struck the old crone down and ran up the stairs
To the daughter’s bedroom and found that it was bare.
The old crone lived in the forest with her even older slave
In a house the villagers pass by as if it was a grave
Staring at each other across a room so paralysed and still
With the fading memory of beauty and an eternity to kill
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