Lore: The Willow Maid

The song created five hundred years ago tells the tragedy that led to the great war between Elves and the Waff Race.

THE WILLOW MAID

A young man walked through the forest,

With his quiver and hunting bow,

He heard a young girl singing,

And followed the sound below,

There he found the maiden,

Who lives in the willow;

He called to her as she listened,

From a ring of toadstools red,

'Come with me, my maiden,

Come from thy willow bed,

She looked at him serenely,

And only shook her head;

See me now, a ray of light in the Moondance,

See me now. I cannot leave this place,

Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest,

Don't ask me to follow where you lead;

A young man walked through the forest,

With a flower and coat of green,

His love had hair like fire,

Her eyes an emerald sheen,

She wrapped herself in beauty,

So young and so serene;

He stood there under the willow,

And he gave her the yellow bloom,

Girl, my heart you've captured,

Oh, I would be your groom,

She said she'd never wed him,

Not near, nor far, nor soon;

See me now, a ray of light in the Moondance

See me now. I cannot leave this place,

Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest,

Don't ask me to follow where you lead;

A young man walked through the forest,

With an axe sharp as a knife,

I'll take the green-eyed fairy,

And she shall be my wife,

With her, I'll raise my children,

With her, I'll live my life;

The maiden wept when she heard him,

When he said he'd set her free,

He took his axe and used it,

To bring down her ancient tree,

Now your willow's fallen,

Now you belong to me;

See me now, a ray of light in the Moondance,

See me now. I cannot leave this place,

Hear me now, a ray of light in the Moondance,

Don't ask me to follow where you lead,

She followed him out of the forest,

And collapsed upon the earth,

Her feet had walked but a distance,

From the green land of her birth,

She faded into a flower,

That would bloom for one bright eve,

He could not take from the forest,

What was never meant to leave;

****

After the tragedy, 'The Man' became an eternity young and gained tremendous power of pure magic willow. The Elf King gets angry and removes magic from the Waff race as punishment, and from there, Waff can't use magic except for 'The Man'. Rumoured say, The Man was banished from Waff forever.

Two hundred years after punishment, the Waff was using newfound technologies and waged the great war against the Elves, and both were almost eradicated. Thankfully for Humans and Anglic interference as negotiators, the war abruptly ended. But hatred kept the two races in a cold relationship.

After the war, The Riff opened, and Wildering came. The Riff came from the purest magi that created a crack in dimension. Unfortunately, the crack connected Arth World and Hellish Jakonen World, the palace of the banished race, or, people said, the dark elf world.

[Note: I use this music of Erutan. She has a beautiful voice, and you should check her out on YT and Spotify. The Willow Maid is a beautiful and haunting song by Erutan, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who creates original and cover songs inspired by fantasy, folklore and video games. The song was released in 2010 as part of her debut album Raindancer, and later in 2013 as a music video on YouTube.]