“All in the midst o’ thy father’s garth
There standeth a linden green,
And many a thief and rascal wight
Hold tryst beneath unseen!”
—Lady, great is thy favour! I thank thee right courteously.
XXV
THE MAIDEN’S MORNING DREAM
This Ballad is a special favourite throughout Scandinavia. S. Grundtvig dates it from the twelfth century, the period of the Wendish invasions, and inclines to consider it as founded on fact. But, as Olrik points out, the Wend King here rides up, not as marauder, but as fairy prince; so that the Ballad was probably composed later, and borrowed his figure—a shadow of “old, unhappy, far-off things”—from earlier ones composed during the time of Wendish warfare. My translation of verse 21 hardly does justice to the original:
“Vesselil ind at Døren tren,
da var det ret som Solen sken.”