XXV.

The stranger view’d the shore around;

’Twas all so close with copsewood bound,

Nor track nor pathway might declare

That human foot frequented there,

Until the mountain maiden show’d

A clambering unsuspected road

That winded through the tangled screen,

And open’d on a narrow green,

Where weeping birch and willow round

With their long fibers swept the ground.

Here, for retreat in dangerous hour,

Some chief had framed a rustic bower.