——————“Six go true,
The seventh askew.”
Der Freischutz Travestie.
An outlandish knight from the north lands came,
And he came a wooing to me;
He told me he’d take me unto the north lands,
And I should his fair bride be.
A broad, broad shield did this strange knight wield,
Whereon did the red-cross shine,
Yet never, I ween, had that strange knight been
In the fields of Palestine.
And out and spake this strange knight,
This knight of the north countrie,
O, maiden fair, with the raven hair,
Thou shalt at my bidding be.
Thy sire he is from home, ladye,
For he hath a journey gone,
And his shaggy blood-hound is sleeping sound,
Beside the postern stone.
Go, bring me some of thy father’s gold,
And some of thy mother’s fee,
And steeds twain of the best, in the stalls that rest
Where they stand thirty and three.
*****
She mounted her on her milk-white steed,
And he on a dapple grey,
And they forward did ride, till they reach’d the sea-side,
Three hours before it was day.
Then out and spake this strange knight,
This knight of the north countrie,
O, maiden fair, with the raven hair,
Do thou at my bidding be.