XIX

"We have ridden east, we have ridden westI'm weary, fair knight, and I fain would rest. Say, is thy dwelling beyond the sea?

Hast thou a good ship waiting for me?"

XX

"I have no dwelling beyond the sea,

I have no good ship waiting for thee:

Thou shalt sleep with me on a couch of foam, And the depths of the ocean shall be thy home."

XXI

The gray steed plunged in the billows clear,
And the maiden's shrieks were sad to hear,
"Maiden, whose eyes like diamonds shine-
Maiden, maiden, now thou'rt mine!"

XXII

Loud the cold sea-blast did blow,

As they sank 'mid the angry waves belowDown to the rocks where the serpents creep, Twice five hundred fathoms deep.

XXIII

At morn a fisherman, sailing by,
Saw her pale corse floating high:
He knew the maid by her yellow hair
And her lily skin, so soft and fair.

XXIV

Under a rock on Scarba's shore,

Where the wild winds sigh and the breakers roar,

They dug her a grave by the water clear,

Among the sea-weed, salt and sere.

XXV

And every year at Beltan E'en,
The Kelpie gallops across the green,
On a steed as fleet as the wintry wind,
With Jessie's mournful ghost behind.

XXVI

I warn you, maids, whoever you be,
Beware of pride and vanity;

And ere on change of love you reckon,
Beware the Kelpie of Corrievreckan.

V

THE FAIRIES

William Allingham

P the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,

Trooping all together;

Green jacket, red cap,

And white owl's feather!

Down along the rocky shore

Some make their home-
They live on crispy pancakes
Of yellow tide-foam;
Some in the reeds

Of the black mountain lake,
With frogs for their watchdogs,
All night awake.

High on the hill-top
The old king sits;

He is now so old and gray
He's nigh lost his wits.
With a bridge of white mist
Columbkill he crosses

On his stately journeys

From Slieveleague to Rosses;

Or going up with music

On cold, starry nights,

To sup with the queen

Of the gay Northern Lights.

They stole little Bridget

For seven years long;

When she came down again

Her friends were all gone.

They took her lightly back,

Between the night and morrow;

They thought that she was fast asleep,
But she was dead with sorrow.

They have kept her ever since

Deep within the lakes,

On a bed of flag-leaves,
Watching till she wakes.

ย

On the bridge of a mountain rivulet,
Whose hanging arch thro' the misty spray,
Like a little lunar rainbow lay,

With turf and flowers a pathway meet

For the twinkling of unearthly feet,

For bright were the flowers as their golden tresses,

And green the turf as their elfin dresses.

Aye the water o'er the linn

Was mocking with a gleesome din,

The small shrill laughter as it broke

In peals from these night-wandering folk;

While the stream danced on with a tinkling tune, All happy to meet by a blink o' the moon.

Now laughing louder than before,

They strove to deaden that ceaseless roar;
And, when vanquished was the water-fall,
Loudly they shouted, one and all,
Like the chorus of a madrigal-

Till the glen arose from its midnight trance,
And o'er the hills in flight-like dance,
Was all the troop of echoes driven,

This moment on earth, and that in heaven.

From the silent heart of a hollow yew,
The owl sailed forth with a loud halloo:
And his large yellow eyes looked bright
With wonder, in the wan moonlight,
As hovering white, and still as snow,
He caught a glance of the things below,
All burning on the bridge like fire

In the sea-green glow of their wild attire.
"Halloo! halloo! tu-whit! to-whoo!"
Cried the gleesome elves, and away they flew,
With mimic shriek, sob, cry and howl,

In headlong chase of the frightened owl.

With many a buffet they drove him onward,

Now hoised him up, now pressed him downward;
They pulled at his horns, and with many a tweak,
Around and around they screwed his beak;
On his back they beat with a birch-spray flail,
And they tore the long feathers from his tail;
Then, like warriors mounted in their pride,
Behind his wings behold them ride!