And first she heard the horses’ tread,
Like drifting leaves come through the dell;
And then she heard their bridles ring,
Like rain drops tinkling on a bell.
Then the wild huntsmen first came on,
An’ sic ane band was never seen!
Some wanted cheike, some wanted chin,
And some had nouthir nose nor een;
One had ane ee in his forehead,
That ee was like ane glaizit pole;
His breiste was like ane heck of hay;
His gobe ane rounde and boral hole.
And ilk ane held ane bugle horn,
And loud they toutit as they gaed by—
“Ycho! ycho! The Keylan Rowe!
Hie to the weird-hill! huntsmen hie!
“The little wee hare o’ Eildon Brae
May trip it o’er the glen, O;
But nane shall bear the prize away.
But Keylan and his men, O.
“Gil-Mouly’s raid, and Keylan’s Rowe,
Shall sweep the moore and lea, O;
And the little wee hare o’ Eildon Brae
In heaven shall never be, O.
“O’er wizard ground, with horse and hound,
Like rattling hail we’ll bear, O—
Ycho! ycho! The Keylan Rowe!
The quick and dead are here, O!”
Then came their collarit phantom tykis,
Like ouf-dogs, an’ like gaspin grews;
An’ their crukit tungis were dry for blood,
An’ the red lowe firled at their flews;
Then came the troopis of the Fairy folke,
And O they wore ane lovely hue!
Their robes were greine like the hollin leife,
And thin as the web of the wiry dew.
And first went by the coal-black steedis,
And then a troop o’ the bonny bay;
And then the milk-white bandis came on,
An’ last the mooned and the merlit gray.