XV.
BALLAD CONTINUED.
“’Tis merry, ’tis merry, in Fairyland,
When fairy birds are singing,
When the court doth ride by their monarch’s side,
With bit and bridle ringing:
“And gayly shines the Fairyland—
But all is glistening show,
Like the idle gleam that December’s beam
Can dart on ice and snow.
“And fading, like that varied gleam,
Is our inconstant shape,
Who now like knight and lady seem,
And now like dwarf and ape.
“It was between the night and day,
When the Fairy King has power,
That I sunk down in a sinful fray,
And, ’twixt life and death, was snatched away
To the joyless Elfin bower.
“But wist[251] I of a woman bold,
Who thrice my brow durst sign,
I might regain my mortal mold,
As fair a form as thine.”
She cross’d him once—she cross’d him twice—
That lady was so brave;
The fouler grew his goblin hue,
The darker grew the cave.
She cross’d him thrice, that lady bold;
He rose beneath her hand
The fairest knight on Scottish mold,
Her brother, Ethert Brand!
Merry it is in good greenwood,
When the mavis and merle are singing,
But merrier were they in Dunfermline[252] gray,
When all the bells were ringing.