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Wild Hunt Song             Wild Hunt Song MP3 (0,7 MB)
Tune: "Down in Yon Forest", trad.   Sheet music (NWC)
(Line 2 and 4 are repeated throughout.)

There´s snow on the forest and ice on the trees,
The Wild Hunt´s hoofbeats, I hear them ring,
Black is the cloud that before the moon flees,
Let none dare meet the eyes of the Hunt´s stormy king.

When the bells of the church tower have ceased holy chime,
The Wild Hunt´s hoofbeats... 

Through the night sounds a horn made of silver and rime,
Let none dare...

For the quarry now runs before Furious Host,
The Wild Hunt´s hoofbeats...

The ghost of a quarry pursued hard by ghosts,
Let none dare...

Sometimes ´tis a stag and sometimes wood-wight maid,
The Wild Hunt´s hoofbeats...
Sometimes a troll, sometimes mortal betrayed,
Let none dare...

The wolfhounds are black and red-fiery their eyes, ...
Flame from their mouths springs with the hunters´ deep cries, ...

The horses are black as a night of despair, ...
And red sparks leap forth where the hooves strike the air, ...

The riders´ bones gleam where their flesh has long fled, ...
Yet dark cloaks are spattered from wounds newly red, ...

In the hand of the leader there glints a keen spear, ...
And his one eye is shadowed by grim Helm of Fear, ...

His blue-black cloak ripples and flows in the wind, ...
And black ravens flutter before and behind, ...

On the mountain a poor man sits hungry alone, ...
The Host roars above and a stag´s haunch drops down, ...

There´s feasting and dancing in the lord´s house below, ...
But when the host´s passed, there is blood on the snow, ...

Throught Yule´s dark nights he will ride o´er the earth, ...
To some he brings gifts and to some he is Death, ...

Leave food and drink for those who ride through the sky, ...
But do not look up when the host thunders by, ...

© KveldúlfR Gundarsson
Tune "Down in Yon Forest" and original text collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Voice: Michaela Macha

Lyrics and sheet music in:
Yuletide Carols: Seventeen heathen carols, traditional and new  
by Winifred Rose, Diana L. Paxson, Kveldulf Gundarsson, Jenny Blain and others.
18 pages, stapled - $2.50.

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