The Lady of the Lake

Name: The Lady of the Lake
Author: Scott, Walter

Scott, Walter

Arthurian romances; Lady of the Lake (Legendary character) -- Romances

'And for vest of pall, thy fingers small,
          That wont on harp to stray,
     A cloak must shear from the slaughtered deer,
          To keep the cold away.'

     'O Richard! if my brother died,
          'T was but a fatal chance;
     For darkling was the battle tried,
          And fortune sped the lance.

     'If pall and vair no more I wear,
          Nor thou the crimson sheen
     As warm, we'll say, is the russet gray,
          As gay the forest-green.

     'And, Richard, if our lot be hard,
          And lost thy native land,
     Still Alice has her own Richard,
          And he his Alice Brand.'


     XIII.

     Ballad Continued.

     'tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood;
          So blithe Lady Alice is singing;
     On the beech's pride, and oak's brown side,
          Lord Richard's axe is ringing.

     Up spoke the moody Elfin King,
          Who woned within the hill,--
     Like wind in the porch of a ruined church,
          His voice was ghostly shrill.

     'Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak,
          Our moonlight circle's screen?
     Or who comes here to chase the deer,
          Beloved of our Elfin Queen?
     Or who may dare on wold to wear
          The fairies' fatal green?

     'Up, Urgan, up! to yon mortal hie,
          For thou wert christened man;
     For cross or sign thou wilt not fly,
          For muttered word or ban.

     'Lay on him the curse of the withered heart,
          The curse of the sleepless eye;
     Till he wish and pray that his life would part,
          Nor yet find leave to die.'


     XIV.

     Ballad Continued.

     'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood,
          Though the birds have stilled their singing;
     The evening blaze cloth Alice raise,
          And Richard is fagots bringing.

     Up Urgan starts, that hideous dwarf,
          Before Lord Richard stands,
     And, as he crossed and blessed himself,
          'I fear not sign,' quoth the grisly elf,
               'That is made with bloody hands.'

     But out then spoke she, Alice Brand,
          That woman void of fear,--
     'And if there 's blood upon his hand,
          'Tis but the blood of deer.'

     'Now loud thou liest, thou bold of mood!
          It cleaves unto his hand,
     The stain of thine own kindly blood,
          The blood of Ethert Brand.'

     Then forward stepped she, Alice Brand,
          And made the holy sign,--
     'And if there's blood on Richard's hand,
          A spotless hand is mine.

     'And I conjure thee, demon elf,
          By Him whom demons fear,
     To show us whence thou art thyself,
          And what thine errand here?'


     XV.

     Ballad Continued.

     "Tis merry, 'tis merry, in Fairy-land,
          When fairy birds are singing,
     When the court cloth ride by their monarch's side,
          With bit and bridle ringing:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Lady of the Lake

No reviews yet