Lord Soulis he sat in Hermitage castle,
And beside him Old Redcap sly;—
"Now, tell me, thou sprite, who art meikle of might,
"The death that I must die?"
"While thou shalt bear a charmed life,
"And hold that life of me,
"'Gainst lance and arrow, sword and knife,
"I shall thy warrant be.
"Nor forged steel, nor hempen band,
"Shall e'er thy limbs confine,
"Till threefold ropes, of sifted sand,
"Around thy body twine.
"If danger press fast, knock thrice on the chest,
"With rusty padlocks bound;
"Turn away your eyes, when the lid shall rise,
"And listen to the sound."
Lord Soulis he sat in Hermitage castle,
And Redcap was not by;
And he called on a page, who was witty and sage,
To go to the barmkin high.
"And look thou east, and look thou west,
"And quickly come tell to me,
"What troopers haste along the waste,
"And what may their livery be."
He looked o'er fell, and he looked o'er flat,
But nothing, I wist, he saw,
Save a pyot on a turret that sat
Beside a corby craw.
The page he look'd at the skrieh[69] of day,
But nothing, I wist, he saw,
Till a horseman gray, in the royal array,
Rode down the Hazel-shaw.
"Say, why do you cross o'er moor and moss?"
So loudly cried the page;
"I tidings bring, from Scotland's king,
"To Soulis of Hermitage.