Redwall Abbey

Lay of the Ottermaid

Isabelle the ottermaid
Picked flowers by the sea,
The Lily and the Marigold,
The delicate Pansy,

For that day she would come of age,
Within that very hour,
And for the celebration then,
She chose her favorite flowers

When she looked up, to her surprise
She saw a ship that rested
Upon the sand down on the shore
Near by the waves that crested

She lay her flowers down and ran
And climbed aboard the ship,
And all around the tokens lay
Of its fateful final trip

The hull was stoved, the rudder snapped,
The mast was broke in two
And on the deck no vestige lay
Of the fated former crew

As Isabelle began to leave
She heard a quiet groan,
From underneath the ship's main deck
Came somebeast's painéd moan

So Isabelle climbed down below,
And soon she found the source,
A grievous wounded otterlad
Who'd groaned 'till he was hoarse

Then Isabelle did bring him home
And laid him in her bed,
She pulled her blanket o'er him,
Laid her pillow 'neath his head

She cleansed his wounds and bandaged them,
She toiled hard and long,
And while she nursed and cared for him,
She sang her favorite song

Coram woke late in the morn
Unto her serenade
But knew not from that day he'd lose
His heart to th'ottermaid

Weak as he was from countless days
Spent tossed upon the seas,
He tried, but failed, to stand alone
And fell upon his knees

Isabelle then raised him up,
With gentle paw and look,
And from the moment their eyes met,
Coram's heart she took.

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