Once Upon a Time, and Other Child-Verses

by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

THE FAIRY FLAG.

A Skye Folk-lore Story.

BEYOND the purple gloom of moors,

Beyond the blueness of the sea,

Beyond the range of chalk-white cliffs,

The sun was setting peacefully.

The fairy, on a grassy knoll,

Sat dreaming, singing to the cows:

"Knee-deep in clumps of plumy ferns,

Knee-deep in rustling grasses browse!

"The chieftain slays his foeman's clan,

The lady broiders in the hall;

I sit here singing to the cows,

And am the gayest one of all!

"Now of the clumps of spicy fern,

Now of the juicy grasses taste!"

The fairy wore a grass-green gown,

With golden girdle at her waist;

Her winsome little face upturned,

Her soft gold hair all round her streamed;

Her small pink cheeks like roses burned,

Her wild blue eyes like jewels beamed.

She struck a little harp o' pearl,

As to the browsing kine she sung:

All lightly o'er the fairy bridge

Beyond, a bonnie laddie sprung.

He had Prince Charlie's yellow locks,

His gay blue eyes and lovesome way:

Son of the great Macleod was he—

The castle just beyond him lay.

The fairy lilted loud and sweet,

The laddie turned him round to see;

She lifted up her little face,

And sweet, and sweet, and sweet, smiled

she.

[Original Size]

The laddie thro' the heather

ran,

His tartan blowing out behind,

The little fairy, gowned in green,

Wi' little harp o' pearl, to find.

And since you are a mortal bairn,

And yet have shunned me not," she said,

A fairy gift I'll give to thee,

To-morrow, when the west is red.

"And since you have a bonny face,

I'll give to thee a fairy kiss,

To take the bitter from thy woe,

And add a sweetness to thy bliss."

She kissed the laddie's blushing cheek,

And all the air grew sweet around,

As if a million flowers bloomed out—

And then she vanished from the ground.

The western sky all roses was,

And round the "Macleod's Maidens'" feet

Foam-wreaths to wreaths of roses turned.

The fairy lilted loud and sweet;

The laddie o'er the fairy bridge,

Came running lightly to her side:

"And have you brought the fairy gift

You promised me last night?" he cried.

The flag was green as springtide sward

What time the sun upon it lies,

And shot with threads of glittering gold,

And filled with spots of gold, like eyes.

She put it in the laddie's hand:

"Once waved, 'twill bring thee thy desire,

And twice, and thrice—but not again;

Then cast it, worthless, in the fire!"

A shadow o'er her gown o' green,

A shadow o'er her winsome face,

A shadow o'er her golden hair,

Came softly creeping on apace.

The fairy through the shadow shone,

And struck her little harp o' pearl;

Then vanished in the shadow's heart,

Wi' golden and wi' rosy swirl.

The laddie held the fairy flag,

Alone in twilight gray and cold;

And stood and looked, his wond'ring eyes

All filled with dancing motes of gold.

---

The laddie's yellow beard had grown;

He'd wedded with a lady fair;

[Original]

And he had got a little son,

With his same bonnie yellow hair.

And alway had the fairy's kiss,

She gave to him so long ago,

Added a sweetness to his bliss,

And ta'en the bitter from his woe.

But never yet the fairy flag

Had waved upon the castle wall;

For with his stalwart arm and sword,

His troubles he had breasted all.

"Oh, where's my little laddie gone?"

The lady left her 'broidery frame;

Through every castle window peered,

With tearful eyes, the gentle dame.

Then Macleod called his followers out,

And loud the castle trumpets blew:

"Oh, Macleod's heir is strayed awa',

And on the heather falls the dew,

"And on the heather falls the dew;

Shadows are floating o'er the sea.

[Original]

Oh, where's my little laddie gone:

I pray ye bring him back to me!

They searched along the chalk-white cliffs,

Upon the dizzy hanging paths;

They sought him on their breezy tops,

Along the strips of grassy straths.

They called "Macleod" adown the hill;

They called "Macleod" adown the vale;

They hailed the shepherd with his flock,

The maiden with her milking-pail.

They searched Dunvergan castle thro';

Each dungeon in the thick stone wall

They peered within, but only found

The prisoned foemen, grim and tall.

His mother looked out o'er the sea,

To where the "Macleod's Maidens" stand,

To see, above the foam-wreaths, rise

His yellow head and waving hand.

The laddie came not, when the moon

With all the stars sailed out in sight,

And "Macleod's Tables," tops of snow,

Were cloth of silver in her light.

"Bring out, bring out the fairy flag!

I'll wave it from the topmost tower!

There'll come no direr need than this,

For Macleod's race has lost its flower!"

Macleod then waved the fairy flag;

It looked a net of golden wire;

Its streaks of gold and spots of gold

All linked and curled like tongues of fire.

There came a twang o' pearly harp,

There came a lilting loud and sweet;

And softly o'er the fairy bridge

There came the dance o' slender feet.

There danced along the fairy bridge

A spot i' the golden light apace:

The laddie at the castle gate

Stood lifting up his bonnie face.

"Oh, I ha' wandered by the burn,

And I ha' wandered by the glen;

A little leddy all in green,"

He said, "has led me home again."

Macleod close furled the fairy flag:

"Ye've served me once in blessed stead,

But sorely I'll be pressed again

Ere I will wave ye twice!" he said.

[Original Size]

All day the chief had held the field,

Nor quailed until the sun sank low:

His followers, bleeding, round him lay,

And he was hemmed in by the foe.

Oh, life is sweet! "exclaimed Macleod;

"I love my bairn and lady dear:

I'll wave again the fairy flag—

But will it bring me succor here?"

Macleod waved high the fairy flag;

H is foemen reeled back at the sight;

For in their cruel eyes there danced

Great spots and bars of golden light.

There came a twang o' pearly harp,

There came a lilting loud and sweet;

And Macleod's foemen turned and fled,

The hills all rang with flying feet.

Macleod furled close the fairy flag:

"Ye've served me twice in blessed stead,

But I shall in the churchyard lie

Ere I will wave ye thrice!" he said.

"For if I thrice should wave the flag,

And thrice should get my heart's desire,

Next day might come a sorer need,

When it were ashes in the fire."

Macleod kept well his word: he fought

For life on many a bloody plain;

He tossed in peril on the sea,

Nor waved the fairy flag again.

The hand that waved the fairy flag,

The lips the fairy kissed, are still:

Macleod low in the churchyard lies,

And deaf to lilting sweet and shrill.

But still his kin in misty Skye

The fairy flag in keeping hold;

And sometime from the castle wall

May flash its spots and bars of gold.

But dire indeed shall be the need,

And every other hope be slain,

Before a Macleod of the Isle

Shall wave the fairy flag again.

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