(Scene I) 



A black carriage rushing through the mountains of Carpathia. 

The only passenger - the main character of this drama. 



Titan wood and haunted hill, vales in which the wolf doth kill

Wisps that in the morass glow mounts with diadems of snow

Fog that swirls o'er moor and heath, the tawny owl sings from the trees

From the ponds the old toad calls, this is where our drapery falls

Eight hooves that pound the midnight groove



Over stock and stone a carriage that winds upward the mountain pass, deep into the wild. 

Crushing stone and shatt'ring bough under wooden wheel and moonlight breaks in spruce and fir and paints the night unreal. 



Titan wood and haunted hill, vales in which the wolf doth kill

Wisps that in the morass glow mounts with diadems of snow

Secrecies lurk in darkness

A spell was cast upon this Nile



With ruthless hand and turbid eyes the coachman drives his brute that snarls and sniffs but rushes on to escape that spook

Six hours as the raven flies - still - to acquinted land

Six hours till the sun wiil rise and morning shall ascend. 



Sleep my dear, don't bother thee with the idle talk of cursed and evil blood that runneth in thy veins

In the cabin lies asleep unblessed by fevered dreams, a traveller on his way home towards the sun's first beams



Fog that swirls o'er moor and heath, the tawny owl sings from the trees

From the ponds the old toad calls, where the darkened drapery falls

Secrecies lurk in darkness

A spell was cast upon this Nile

Secrecies lurk in darkness

A spell was cast upon this Nile