Draw the thread and weave the woof
For the little child’s behoof.”
In beauty of melody and gracefulness of orchestration this chorus of the fays is specially noticeable. Its charming movement, however, is interrupted by a fresh passage for male chorus, of an agitated character, describing the entrance of the Wicked Fay, who bends over the cradle of the child and sings a characteristic contralto aria:—
“From the gold of the flaxen reel
Threads of bliss have been spun to thee;
By the whirl of the spinning wheel
Cruel grief shall be done to thee.
Thy fate I descry:
Ere the buds of thy youth are blown,
Ere a score of thy years have flown,