Andrew Lloyd Webber — Lammastide

Scene: "Harvest-Time" (Suddenly villagers arrive. They are processing to the church with the fruits of the harvest. There is cider-drinking and dancing. Hartright, Laura and Marian get immediately caught up in the festivities) [ALL] Ripe golden fields and the bounty they bring Reason enough for to dance and to sing Dance for who knows if we’ll live till it’s spring Sing, for it’s Lammastide! (A young girl goes to Laura and gives her a corn dolly) Winds of the winter As sharp as a thorn Soon will assault us As sure as we’re born [GIRLS] What will protect us? A doll made of corn [ALL] Sing, for it's Lammastide! [MEN] Please spend the season Pressed in my arms Rest in my arms [WOMEN] Merrily, merrily We'll end the season Wrapped in your arms [MEN] Trapped in your arms Verily, verily [ALL] Ripe golden fields and the bounty they bring Reason enough for to dance and to sing Dance for who knows if we’ll live till it’s spring Sing, for it’s Lammastide! (Dance) [MEN] Please end the season Pressed in my arms Blessed in my arms [WOMEN] Verily, verily Although we may Protest in your arms We’ll nest in your arms [MEN] Merrily, merrily [ALL] After we harvest the fruits of the earth Time for the home and a moment of mirth Time for a dance, and the chance of rebirth Sing, for it's Lammastide! Ripe golden fields and the bounty they bring Reason enough for to dance and to sing Dance for who knows if we’ll live till it’s spring Sing, for it’s Lammastide! Dance, for it's Lammastide! Sing, for it's Lammastide! (At the end of the song, we see the same young girl being excluded from the festivities. Her mother scolds her and she does not enter the Church with the others) [MOTHER] (to little girl) You'll wait outside till you see sense, my girl! Scene: "The Little Girl Who Saw a Ghost" (The little girl stands outside the church, upset. Hartright sees her and goes up to her. We hear the evensong happening in the background as Hartright is left alone with the child) [HARTRIGHT] What's wrong, child? [GIRL] She didn't believe me. She said I were tellin' tales [HARTRIGHT] About what? [GIRL] Do you believe in ghosts, sir? [HARTRIGHT] ...I believe the dead go on. We carry them inside us [GIRL] I saw a ghost, sir! Yester’een at the gloaming. All in white, sir—Just as a ghost should be [HARTRIGHT] The ghost of a woman? [GIRL] That's right, sir! A woman all in white [HARTRIGHT] Where did you see her? [GIRL] Over there, sir, in the graveyard, sir. It scared me half to death! (pause) [HARTRIGHT] It's alright (The girl runs away. Hartright walks towards the graveyard)