4 Was borne away from Normandy,
Where, secretly confined,
She heard no voice of those she loved,
But sighed to the north wind.
5 Haply from some lone castle's tower
Or solitary strand,
Even now she gazes o'er the deep,
That laves her father's land!
6 King Richard cries, My minstrel knights,
Who will the task achieve,
To seek through France and Normandy
The orphan left to grieve?
7 Young William Talbot then did speak,
Betide me weal or woe,
From Michael's castle[211] through the land
A pilgrim I will go.
8 He clad him in his pilgrim weeds,
With trusty staff in hand,
And scallop shell, and took his way,
A wanderer through the land.
9 For two long years he journeyed on,
A pilgrim, day by day,
Through many a forest dark and drear,
By many a castle gray.
10 At length, when one clear morn of frost
Was shining on the main,
Forth issuing from a castle gate
He saw a female train!
11 With lightsome step and waving hair,
Before them ran a child,
And gathering from the sands a shell,
Ran back to them, and smiled.
12 Himself unseen among the rocks,
He saw her point her hand;
And cry, I would go home, go home,
To my poor father's land.
13 The bell tolled from the turret gray,
Cold freezing fell the dew,
To the portcullis hastening back
The female train withdrew.