How sure is fate's decree,
From neither love nor death
Can mortal man be free.
Ballads on the subject of the slaying a would-be ravisher with his own arms are common in popular poetry, and striking examples are found in Scotch, French, and Spanish. There are several variants in Portuguese of The Pilgrim Maid, but the best is that furnished by Almeida Garrett.
THE PILGRIM MAID.
Adown the lofty mountain green
The pilgrim maid descends:
No fairer and no purer maid