Once upon a time there were 12 maidens who came together to sing songs of yore -- and wear sexy druid-like outfits. They called themselves the Mediaeval Baebes and they formed in the Dark Ages that was the pre-Facebook world of 1997.

Their first disc soared into the heavens, reaching No. 2 on the classical crossover charts, bolstered as much by their looks as their musicality. Their follow-up album, "Worldes Bylsse," topped the classical charts the next year. While they didn't achieve the near mythical status in their homeland of England of the Spice Girls, or gain the critical acclaim of the all-woman early music specialists, Anonymous Four, the Baebes were doing just fine.

But one by one, the maidens fell away from the group, and in 2008 the sorceress who first conjured up the Mediaeval Baebes, founder and artistic director Katharine Blake, began to write a new chapter to their tale.

"The original lineup was made up of people who were basically amateurs," says Baebe Emily Ovenden.

Other than Blake, there are no singers from the original 12 (Ovenden joined the group eight years ago).

"It was for fun, and less about musical integrity," she continues. "It was a little bit of a [gimmick]. The first record company thought they would sell the band as a Christmas novelty; they never expected it to be something that lived on."

But the Baebes proceeded the way many companies have faced with crisis: they downsized. There are now only six, but the four additions are much stronger singers and musicians than the original singers, says Ovenden.

"Bev Lee Harling plays the violin, I and [others] play recorders and others have a strong music theatrical background."

The group is backed by additional musicians, including guitar and percussion.

The look is still there -- "You can't be in a band called the Mediaeval Baebes and not be a babe" -- but the focus is on writing new songs in the medieval and Renaissance style and creating theatrical ambience that captures the allure of the Middle Ages.

"It was very grim to live in, but it was romantic -- the concept of courtly love and such -- and that is what we find exciting," says Ovenden.

The new compositions usually set medieval poetry in Latin or Old English, but create the ancient sound by the use of modal scales, harmonies built without thirds and some period instruments.

At the First Fridays at the Frick, the program will be family friendly, with two long sets taken from older albums and their newest, the self-produced "Illumination."

"There are elements of world music in us, and of classical, but we are also a band -- we hang out together and use the same [supporting] musicians," says Ovenden. "There is nobody who does what we do."

And so, the tale continues.