The grass grew thick by the streamlet brink, And he lighted down off his horse to drink. The Corrigaun sat by the fountain fair, A-combing her long and yellow hair; A-combing her hair with a comb of gold— (Not poor, I trow, are those maidens cold)— Now who’s the bold wight that dares come here To trouble my fairy fountain clear? Either thou straight shalt wed with me Or pine for four long years and three, Or dead in three days’ space shalt be. This proposal he spurned, asserting that he was already married, and would die on the spot ere he would take a Corrigaun to wife. Her spell she cast, and instantly he feels sick. On return he bids his mother make his bed, for in three days she would hear his passing-bell, but adjures her never to tell the tale to his bride. The three days expire, and the latter inquires of her mother-in-law why the Church bells toll and the priests chant in the street below, all clad in their white vestments? “A strange poor man had died,” was the evasive answer. Then she asks whither her husband had gone, and on being assured he would soon be back, the unsuspecting lady concerns herself with the kind of gown she would wear for her churching. Said her mother-in-law:— “The fashion of late, my child, hath grown, That women for churching black should don.” And then:— As through the churchyard porch she stept She saw the grave where her husband slept. And the dialogue proceeds:— “Who of our blood is lately dead That our ground is new raked and spread?” “The truth I may no more forbear, My son—your own poor lord—lies there.” She threw herself on her knees amain, And from her knees ne’er rose again. That night they laid her, dead and cold Beside her lord beneath the mould; When lo!—a marvel to behold!— Next morn from the grave two oak trees fair Shot lusty boughs into the air; And in their boughs—oh wondrous sight— Two happy doves all snowy white— That sang as ever the morn did rise And then flew up—into the skies. In addition to the songs, Villemarqué published _The Breton Bards of the Sixth Century_, but Renan preferred the songs as by far the better.