Romantic Ballads | Page 9

pain."
"Then take off thy kerchief, and
cover my head,
And perhaps I may stand in the wise-woman's stead."

"O Christ, that I had but a draught of the wave!

To quench my
death-thirst, and my temples to lave."
Sir Middel was to her so tender
and true,
And he fetch'd her the drink in her gold-spangled shoe.

The fountain was distant, and when he drew near,
Two nightingales
sat there and sang in his ear:
"Thy love, she is dead, and for ever at
rest,
With two little babes that lie cold on her breast."
Such was

their song; but he heeded them not,
And trac'd his way back to the
desolate spot;
But oh, what a spectacle burst on his view!
For all
they had told him was fatally true.
He dug a deep grave by the side of
a tree,
And buried therein the unfortunate three.
As he clamp'd the
mould down with his iron-heel'd boot
He thought that the babies
scream'd under his foot:
Then placing his weapon against a grey stone,

He cast himself on it, and died with a groan.
Ye maidens of
Norway, henceforward beware!
For love, when unbridled, will end in
despair.
ELVIR-SHADES.
FROM THE DANISH OF
OEHLENSLAEGER.
A sultry eve pursu'd a sultry day;
Dark streaks of purple in the sky
were seen,
And shadows half conceal'd the lonely way;
I spurr'd my courser, and more swiftly rode,
In moody silence,
through the forests green,
Where doves and linnets had their lone
abode:
It was my fate to reach a brook, at last,
Which, by sweet-scented
bushes fenc'd around,
Defiance bade to heat and nipping blast.
Inclin'd to rest, and hear the wild birds' song,
I stretch'd myself upon
that brook's soft bound,
And there I fell asleep and slumber'd long;
And only woke, O wonder, to perceive
A gold-hair'd maiden, as a
snowdrop pale,
Her slender form from out the ground upheave:
Then fear o'ercame me, and this daring heart
Beat three times audibly
against my mail;
I wish'd to speak, but could no sound impart.
And see! another maid rose up and took
Some drops of water from
the foaming rill,
And gaz'd upon me with a wistful look.

Said she, "What brings thee to this lonely place?
But do not fear, for
thou shalt meet no ill;
Thou steel-clad warrior, full of youth and
grace."
"No;" sang the other, in delightful tone,
"But thou shalt gaze on
prodigies which ne'er
To man's unhallow'd eye have yet been shown."
The brook which lately brawl'd among the trees
Stood still, the
murmur of that song to hear;
No green leaf stirr'd, and fetter'd seem'd
the breeze.
The thrush, upstarting in the distant dell,
Shook its brown wing, with
golden streaks array'd,
And ap'd the witch-notes, as they rose and fell.
Bright gleam'd the lake's broad sheet of liquid blue,
Where, with the
rabid pike, the troutling play'd;
The rose unlock'd its folded leaves
anew,
And blush'd, besprinkled with the night's cold tear.
Once more the
lily rais'd its head and smil'd,
All ghastly white, as when it decks the
bier.
Though sweet she sang, my fears were not the less,
For in her accents
there was something wild,
Which I can feel, 't is true, but not express.
"Come with us," sang she, "deep below the earth,
Where sun ne'er
burns, and storm-winds never rave;
Come with us to our halls of
princely mirth,
"There thou shalt learn from us the Runic lay;
But dip thee, first, in
yonder crystal wave,
Which binds thee to the Elfin race for aye:
"Though painted flowers on earth's breast abound,
Yet we have far
more lovely ones below;
Like grass the chrysolites there strew the
ground."

"O come," the other syren did exclaim,
"For rubies there more red
than roses grow -
The sapphir's blue the violet puts to shame."
I rais'd my eyes to heaven's starry dome,
And gripp'd my faulchion
with convulsive might,
Resolv'd no witchcraft should my mind
o'ercome.
My lengthen'd silence vex'd the maidens sore:
"Wilt thou detain us
here the live-long night,
Or must we, stripling, proffer something
more?
"Taught by us, thou shalt bind the rugged bear, -
Seize on the mighty
dragon's heap of gold, -
And slay the cockatrice while in her lair!
"But from thy breast the blood we will suck out,
Unless thou follow
us beneath the mould!
Decide, decide, nor longer pause in doubt!"
Cold sweat I shed, and as, with trembling hand,
I strove to whirl my
beaming faulchion round,
It sank, enthrall'd by magic's potent band.
Each witch drew nigh, with dagger high uprear'd;
Just then a cock,
beyond the wild wood's bound,
Crew loud--and in the earth they
disappear'd.
I flung myself upon my frighten'd barb,
Just as the shades began to
grow less murk,
And sun-beams clad the sky in gayer garb.
Let each young warrior from such places fly:
Disease and death
beneath the flowers lurk;
And elves would suck the warm blood from
his eye.
THE HEDDYBEE-SPECTRE.
FROM THE OLD DANISH.
I clomb in haste my dappled steed,
And gallop'd far o'er mount and
mead;
And when the day drew nigh its close,
I laid me down to take
repose.

I laid me down to take repose,
And slumbers sweet