I wrote this song a few years back, but was hit by the inspiration to make a video of it last week:

My Fair Ship

Anyway, the image at 2:55 is of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm listening to a story from Dorothea Viehmann -- who was the actual source for a great many of the stories in their collection, and incidentally, the woman Wilhelm would eventually marry (he's the one leaning forward in his seat, as if hanging on her every word, bless his stockings). ...I love the chickens wandering in and out...

Anyway, I included that illustration specifically because this December is the 200th anniversary of the first edition of their first volume of "Children's and Household Tales,"* and figured they deserved a tip of the hat.

Here's a link to the Wikisource page that has the illustration and text of the magazine article that went with it (in German): Die Brüder Grimm bei der Märchenerzählerin

Lyrics and ABC Text:

My Fair Ship

Time flows just like rolling ocean blue
To distant shores not drawn on any chart.
My ship stands ready for to carry you
And in her hold lie treasures of the heart.

Chorus:
And it's "Once upon a time,"
Like a ship upon the sea,
With sails of woven rhyme.
So come journey, now, with me.
The glowing embers of the hearth
Shall be our guiding stars.
My ship is fair and in her hold
Lie treasures of the heart.

Her keel was laid ten thousand years ago,
And she has seen Time's current churned to foam;
Her keel was carved from Truth the heart doth know.
I trust my ship to see us safely home.

Chorus:
And it's "Once upon a time,"
Like a ship upon the sea (Etc.)

The artisans who built her gleaming hull,
They cut no cedar, ash nor mighty oak.
For these all fail in Time's unceasing pull;
My ship, instead, is built from words they spoke.

Chorus:
And it's "Once upon a time,"
Like a ship upon the sea (Etc.)

So weigh the anchor, and let us embark
We'll hoist the sails to catch the dreaming wind.
There's grand adventure in the swelling dark.
With "Once upon a time," let us begin.

Chorus:
And it's "Once upon a time,"
Like a ship upon the sea (Etc.)

The earth is sleeping in the winter dark.
The old year's ending, and the new year's nigh.
So let us dream and watch the rising sparks,
And take a magic journey, you and I.

Chorus:
And it's "Once upon a time,"
Like a ship upon the sea (Etc.)


X:1
T: My Fair Ship
C: Ann Magill (CapriUni)
Q:1/4=100
M: 3/4
K: F
F F2 E D2|C D2 E F2|G C4 z|D G2 G F2|
F D2 E F2| E F4 z|F A2 A B2|A G2 F G2|
G C4 z|C E2 E D2|C D2 E F2|E F4 z|
C/2 C/2 F2 F G2|F E2 E/2 E/2 D2|C D2 E C2-|C z D G2 G|
F2 F E2 E/2 D/2|C2 D F2 E|F3 F A2 |A B2 A G2|
F G2 A B2|A G2 F E2-|E z E D2 C|D2 E F2 E|
D2 D C2 D|F2 E F3|]

---
My brain does not do well with translating rhythms, and I know that the machine-produced score does not match the scansion of my singing.

*The second volume was published in 1814, with a third volume (of commentary) published in 1822; There were seven editions in all.