Oh! harpers, harpers, cease your song;

The grief at my heart is sharp and strong.

Why did they this from his mother hide?

In a dungeon lies my only pride!

O quick make ready a ship for me,

This night I’ll cross the stormy sea.”

The ballad goes on to show how young Bran, from his bed, at morn, at noon, at vesper, asked the warder whether he saw a ship; and when, at last, the warder says he observes one, he couples it with the falsehood that the color of its flag is black.

“When the downcast knight that answer heard,

He asked no more, he spake no word.