Beside the way whereon they passed, beside the road they travelled,
They heard the singing of the birds, they heard the birds a-saying:
—‘Who hath e’er seen a maiden fair by a dead man escorted?’
—‘Didst hear, my brother Constantine, what thing the birds are saying?
“Who hath e’er seen a maiden fair by a dead man escorted?”’
—‘Nay, foolish birds, let them sing on, nor heed their idle chatter.’
Anon as they went faring on, yet other birds were calling:
—‘What woeful sight is this we see, so piteous and so plaintive,
That lo! as comrades on their way, the dead escort the living?’
—‘Didst hear, my brother Constantine, what thing the birds are saying?