The Song of Deirdra, King Byrge and his Brothers, and Other Ballads

Transcribed from the 1913 Thomas J. Wise pamphlet by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
by GEORGE BORROW
London: printed for private circulation
1913
Copyright in the United States of America by Houghton , Mifflin & Co. for Clement Shorter .
Farewell, grey Albyn, much loved land, I ne’er shall see thy hills again; Upon those hills I oft would stand And view the chase sweep o’er the plain.
’Twas pleasant from their tops I ween To see the stag that bounding ran; And all the rout of hunters keen, The sons of Usna in the van.
The chiefs of Albyn feasted high, Amidst them Usna’s children shone; And Nasa kissed in secrecy The daughter fair of high Dundron.
To her a milk-white doe he sent, With little fawn that frisked and played And once to visit her he went, As home from Inverness he strayed.
The news was scarcely brought to me When jealous rage inflamed my mind; I took my boat and rushed to sea, For death, for speedy death, inclined.
But swiftly swimming at my stern Came Ainlie bold and Ardan tall; Those faithful striplings made me turn And brought me back to Nasa’s hall.
Then thrice he swore upon his arms, His burnished arms, the foeman’s bane, That he would never wake alarms In this fond breast of mine again.