Thence to the verge of ocean. Fairy elves,
A thousand strong, the toilsome task essayed;
While twice a thousand, perched on rocky shelves,
A wierd accomp’niment of laughter made
(Timed to their phantom forms that swung and swayed).
So sweet the sound, ’twould seem the winds, at rest
For once from warring, ’mong the treetops played:
Till, lo, the King, so close they round him prest,
Woke, and a struggling trio clasped upon his breast.
VII.
“Life for thy life,” they cried: “have mercy, King!”
Swift to his feet he sprang. The fairy throng
Vanished like vapour, save where, in the ring
Of his tight-clasping arms, as swift along
The dim-seen beach he strode the stones among,
The wriggling remnant of the elvish crew
Craved mercy.—“Mercy doth to thee belong,
And ours in turn to render service due.”
Clasping them in his arms he toward his chariot drew.
VIII.
There lay Muëna, wrapt in peaceful sleep,
Nor woke the King his bondsman; but did say
To those he held his captives: “Through the deep,
And under, give me knowledge of the way,
Unfearful of the power of wave or spray.
This shall ye grant and live.” “O King, such boon,”
Thus said the elves, “sweeps not beyond our sway;
So shall be thine, ere swings another moon,
Skill meet to dare the depths of river and lagoon,
IX.
“Save Rory, whence thou camest; that shalt thou
Ne’er ruffle with thy foot: within its wide
Impassioned breast, from day’s first dawn till now,
And still from now till dawn’s last day, has plied,
And still shall ply, the spirit of the tide
His secret craft. Nor thou nor human kind
Shall scan his face and live. All else beside
Is thine when Earth ’s again to Day resigned,
Whose advent now is blown on trumpets of the wind.”
X.
So when the morn, like Virtue’s cheek red-blushing
For night’s black deeds, from couch of cloud arose,
Ere yet were heard hoarse caws and dark wings rushing
Athwart the sun, when trailing lines of crows
Hasten to haunts far off that no man knows,
Beside the sea stood King and charioteer
To take the waves’ great secret now from those
In promise bound, who stand apart, yet near,
Where wavelets lift and lay, as if some word to hear.