"Cora, The Indian Maiden's Song" ("The Wild Free Wind) is a song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 written by Shirley Brooks

Shirley Brooks

Charles William Shirley Brooks , journalist and novelist, born in London, began life in a solicitor's office. He early, however, took to literature, and contributed to various periodicals. In 1851 he joined the staff of Punch, to which he contributed "Essence of Parliament," and on the death of...

 for his burletta

Burletta

A burletta , also sometimes burla or burlettina, is a musical term generally denoting a brief comic Italian opera...

, The Wigwam, sometime before 1847. Alexander Lee

George Alexander Lee

George Alexander Lee was an English musician.He was the son of Henry Lee, a pugilist and innkeeper. He became "tiger" to Lord Barrymore, and his singing led to his being educated for the musical profession...

 composed the music. In the song, Cora, the Indian maiden

Maiden

Maiden or Maidens may refer to:* A female virgin; see virginity* Maiden name, the family name carried by a woman before marriage; see married and maiden names* Maiden, the first of the three aspects of the Triple Goddess...

, is praising the wind: "Oh! the wild free wind is a Spirit Kind, And it loves the Indian well." The song's chorus is:

It speeds her dart to the red deer's heart

As he bounds from his secret lair

And whether o'er sea or land it go, or land it go.

She loves to hear the wild wind blow,

To hear the wild wind blow.

In the 1847 London presentation of The Wigwam, Mary Keeley

Mary Anne Keeley

Mary Anne Keeley, née Goward was an English actress and actor-manager.She was born at Ipswich, her father being a brazier and tinman. After some experience in the provinces, she first appeared on the stage in London on July 2, 1825, in the opera Rosina...

played Cora where she received high praise for her rendering of the song.