“A maiden’s vows,” old Callum spoke,

“Are lightly made and lightly broke.

The heather on the mountain’s height

Begins to bloom in purple light;

The frost-wind soon shall sweep away

That lustre deep from glen and brae;

Yet Nora, ere its bloom be gone,

May blithely wed the Earlie’s son.”

“The swan,” she said, “the lake’s clear breast