This ballad was written in a few hours and performed for the final round of Northkeep's Bardic competition. It is my best attempt at a traditional ballad. The narrative is less detailed and more universal in its content. The elements of a love-striken shepherdess, a wandering minstrel, and verses that follow a progression of the seasons is very typical of English and Scottish traditional ballads. (1995-Lyrics & Tune by Rhiannon Redwulf.)

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Gunhilda's Song

Refrain:
A Shepherdess sits on the hill
Her sheep run where they will
Her lover's gone, away from here
And left her with her tears.

He played the harp so sweetly
throughout an autumn day.
He won her heart, spoke not a word;
The harp spoke in his stead.

Refrain

She kept him at both bed and board
'gainst winter's cold sharp sword.
He said he'd stay all through the snow,
But with the thaw he'd go.

Refrain

And with the spring he went his way,
Across green hills of hay.
She heard him go, across the moor,
Till the harp, she heard no more.

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