(Scene I)
A black carriage rushing through the mountains of Carpathia.
The only passenger - the main character of this drama.
Titan wood and haunted hill, vales in which the wolf doth kill
Wisps that in the morass glow mounts with diadems of snow
Fog that swirls o'er moor and heath, the tawny owl sings from the trees
From the ponds the old toad calls, this is where our drapery falls
Eight hooves that pound the midnight groove
Over stock and stone a carriage that winds upward the mountain pass, deep into the wild.
Crushing stone and shatt'ring bough under wooden wheel and moonlight breaks in spruce and fir and paints the night unreal.
Titan wood and haunted hill, vales in which the wolf doth kill
Wisps that in the morass glow mounts with diadems of snow
Secrecies lurk in darkness
A spell was cast upon this Nile
With ruthless hand and turbid eyes the coachman drives his brute that snarls and sniffs but rushes on to escape that spook
Six hours as the raven flies - still - to acquinted land
Six hours till the sun wiil rise and morning shall ascend.
Sleep my dear, don't bother thee with the idle talk of cursed and evil blood that runneth in thy veins
In the cabin lies asleep unblessed by fevered dreams, a traveller on his way home towards the sun's first beams
Fog that swirls o'er moor and heath, the tawny owl sings from the trees
From the ponds the old toad calls, where the darkened drapery falls
Secrecies lurk in darkness
A spell was cast upon this Nile
Secrecies lurk in darkness
A spell was cast upon this Nile
