Maid of the Willow

    A young lord crept through the forest with his bow held out and drawn. As he tracked the hoofsteps of a deer he heard a soft melody echoing through the forest. As he followed the sound he came across a willow glade with a cozy log cottage off to the side. Next to it was a small garden with a young woman picking red toadstools. The lord took one look and fell in love. The woman had red hair and wore a dress that looked as if it were made from a willow tree. The young lord called out," Why do you live here milady?" the woman looked up with beautiful green eyes and said," I take care of my ill father" the young lord cared not for the sickly father as he said, "Come with me my maiden, come from thy willow glade." She gave him a serene look and shook her head. As she gestured around her she said, "See me now, a ray of light in the moondance, see me now, i can not leave this place. Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest, don't ask me to follow where you lead."  The young lord scowled and left the glade. " she will be mine" He thought.
    The next day the lord was back in the forest carrying a yellow rose while his green cloak seemed to hide him in the undergrowth. Once he reached the glade, he walked up to the woman, dropped to one knee, held out the rose and said," Girl my heart you've captured, oh I would be your groom."  The woman sighed and responded, "I'll wed you never. 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."  The young lord growled as he walked away. As he passed the log cottage he heard the woman's father coughing. A wicked gleam entered his eyes. He smirked as he left.
     The young lord sauntered through the forest with a wicked look on his face and a sword on his hip. As he walked he muttered to himself. "I'll take the green-eyed maiden and she shall be my wife. With her I'll raise my children, with her I'll live my life." He smirked. " I'll set her free", He said firmly, the words echoing through the forest. In the willow glade, the woman heard the lord and started to cry. When the lord reached the glade, he marched right up to the cottage and up to the girls father, who was outside,in front of the steps, for the first time in a while. The lord drew his sword and stabbed the father in the heart. "NO!" the woman screamed. The lord turned toward he woman and said "Now your fathers' fallen, now you belong to me". Just as the lord went to grab her, she took the knife she had been using to collect toadstools and stabbed herself in the heart. She fell to the porch of her birth place, now her death bed. They say that when her blood fell onto the log planks of the cottage, the house fell and reformed back into the giant willow tree that the logs for the cottage came from and as the wind rustles through the leaves you can hear the maiden's final words
     "see me now, a ray of light in the moondance. See me now, I can not leave this place. Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest. Don't ask me to follow where you lead."
   On the eve of that night every year, a flower would bloom until morning. The father mourning for his Willow Fairy daughter.
    To this day people will sing the story of 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 lived 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 can not 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 a coat of green. His love had hair like fire and eyes, an emerald sheen. She wrapped herself in beauty, so young and so serene. He stood there under the willow and gave her the yellow bloom. Girl, my heart you've captured, oh i would be your groom. She said she'd wed him never. Not near, nor far, nor soon. See me now, a ray of light in the moondance. See me now, I can not 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 ax as sharp as a knife. I'll take the green eyed fairy and she will 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 ax and used it, to bring down her ancient tree. Now your willows' fallen, now you belong to me. See me now, a ray of light in the moondance. See me now, I can not leave this place. Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest. Don't ask me to follow where you lead.
     She followed him out the forest and collapsed upon the earth. Her feet had gone 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, that was never meant to leave.