The Miller's Daughter
After Making Love Out of Nothing At All by Air
Supply with slightly alterned chords
By my trade I am a weaver,
Thread and cloth I weave it's true,
But my father told tales to the king,
And I don't know what to do.
I can ply my wheel and spindle,
Spinning wool and linen too,
I could make a shirt of milkweed fluff,
And dye it wonder blue.
But I know I can't do magic,
And all my skill sticks in my craw,
For I can't spin gold
Out of nothing but straw.
The first task was no easier,
Turn flax into pure wool.
And I know I would have given up,
Cursing father for a fool,
But the little man appeared then,
He said "Good sister, do not cry.
Give me your hand, give me your ring.
Don't give up you've but to try."
And though I saw no magic,
I was bending nature's rules.
Spinning flax into something like wool.
I gave the prince the woolen thread,
Whisper fine and white as milk,
And I got a room of nettle thorns,
And the order to make silk.
But the little man appeared then,
He said "Good sister, don't you cry.
Give me your beads, I will charm your hands,
And tonight you will not die."
And though the silk is red silk,
For my hands are ripped and torn,
I spun silk, out of nothing but thorns.
I gave the prince the fine soft silk.
He smiled as if appeased.
Oh gods, the cruelty in that smile.
For I knew 'twas just to tease.
He threw me in this room then,
"Spin straw to gold and you will live".
And I lay on the floor thinking,
That I had nothing left to give.
Well, my mouth tasted like ashes,
And my hands were torn and raw,
But I spun that gold out of nothing but straw.
My magic friend appeared then,
In his eyes, my future child,
And I said "Take me with you to your woods,
For I would not live defiled."
Well my friend he said, "Good sister . . . "
Just that and nothing more.
He took my wounded hand in his,
And we vanished through the floor.
No, I would not go back there,
Not to that life I saw.
A prince's love is gold, made of nothing but straw.
April 13th, 1999
This is Manny's fault. He showed me
Bob Kanefsky's filk of this and put this idea in my head.
