Chorus:
Let us all now raise our glasses, and rejoice to tell the hour,
When first we knew our smiling Prince, and his lovely prairie flower!
See our Prince, a warrior worthy, noble in both word and deed,
With his ever-present smile his Northshield subjects he will lead.
The Princess of Love and Beauty gazes at her subjects here,
With a glance of kind compassion, and a smile of warmth and cheer.
Chorus:
Let us all now raise our glasses, and rejoice to tell the hour,
When first we knew our smiling Prince, and his lovely prairie flower!
Winter Prince and Winter Princess now reign over Northshield fair,
With Tristan and Eilika, Northshield's Lord and Lady Heir.
When we gather all together, there they'll be, the winter long,
Working for the Northshield's glory, with its people brave and strong!
Chorus:
So charge your tankards, raise a toast, and remember well the hour
When first we knew our smiling Prince, and his lovely prairie flower!
Notes about this song: At Poor Man's Pennsic VII, our Shire seneschal, Lady Alexandra, got very jazzed about bardic stuff and assigned me the task of writing a song for Northshield Coronet/Investiture, which we were to host in Nov. 1999. It was in August that she asked me to do this. The morning of our November moot (11/10/99) I woke up and remembered her request. "Uhhhhhh...gotta write Coronet song...*yawn* *stretch*..." The tune took over my brain as I was slowly waking up, and I sleepwalked over to the computer to transcribe it, singing, "Nuh nuh nuh nuh, nuh nuh nuh nuh..." so I wouldn't forget it. I got the tune down, wrote two verses, and promptly forgot about it again until DURING Coronet. Luckily our Shire's wunderkind, Lady Aryanhwy (she's a herald! She sews! She fights! She embroiders! She's Principality Minister of Children! And she's ONLY EIGHTEEN!) was around and helped me brainstorm lyrics for the first verse in time for feast, when I performed it for the head table.
Some explication of the lyrics: Northshield Spring Coronet Tourney in 1999 was held in the Barony of Castel Rouge (Winnipeg, MB). HSH Gaylen's full name is Gaylen the Smiling, and I have never seen him without a smile. HSH Kelinda is referred to as a prairie flower for the simple reason that TSH live in South Dakota (though they were recent transplants from An Tir). Yes indeed, I did leave blanks for the Lord and Lady Heirs' names up until that afternoon ("With ____ and _____, Northshield's Lord and Lady Heir"), and thank goodness Tristan and Eilika fit the meter. Final note: this song is best done while holding a large tankard or goblet that you can forcefully toast heavenward as each chorus starts, most forcefully on the last chorus. However, it's best to empty and dry it out first, or you may get drops of wine on the Prince's garb.