Blackmore's Night – Cartouche lyrics

"Cartouche" was a French bandit who was executed in the early 18th century. It's said that he was living with his thieves in the forests around Paris, and he made himself a name by not only robbing people, but also entertaining them while doing so. So he became quite popular among peasants and nobles as well - although the authorities went after him (of course). It's said Cartouche believed his deeds would seen be less "negative" when he makes those laugh who'd otherwise be scared (who wouldn't be scared if being robbed?).
Nonetheless his execution was very cruel - the executioner got a so-called "Retentum" too late (a Retentum is a secret agreement that the delinquent gets killed within the torture before he has to face the true agony).

The song "Cartouche" implies the feeling (within me at least) that the spirit of this famous bandit still lingers around in the old places he used to live when he was alive - not caring that Paris grew a lot during the last centuries; for him most places probably still are the forest: When you step on a staircase leading to a modern building you see "the caramel-colored leaves" that can't bee there because there is no tree nearby; from the corner of your eyes you might see something like a card-trick, but when you look - nothing is there. A street-performancer somewhere on a public place is doing magic-tricks where he lets rings re- and disappear within and from his empty hands - and his actions honor Cartouche who probably did that to entertain his "Victims"; and on the street-corner, where wandering storytellers used to play Puppets ("Stories carved out of wood") while telling awesome stories of how Cartouche robbed the Nobleman you might see another performancer today, maybe not telling stories, but juggling or doing pantomime - but for split-seconds you see Cartouche's smile in the corners of his mouth.

Like Robin Hood is still somewhat alive in Sherwood Forest and Nottingham - Cartouche is probably still there in France, too.