The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd Centenary Edition. With a Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. Thomas Thomson ... Poems and Life. With Many Illustrative Engravings [by James Hogg] |
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 | The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd |  |
“We'll go,” said Donald, “in the night,
And seize this king of boasted might;
And first we'll bind him heel to head,
And bear him to our rock with speed;
And then we'll turn, and kill, and kill,
And spoil and ravage at our will!
That cumbrous host we well may dread,
With doughty Eric at its head;
But, rend that moving spring away,
And down it falls the spoiler's prey.
What boots it me a maiden's vow,
Vouchsafed I see not why, nor how?
If Donald this achievement grand
Performs by dint of shield and brand,
He reigns the King of fair Scotland!”—
“God bless the mark!” said every tongue,
And every sword on buckler rung.
And seize this king of boasted might;
And first we'll bind him heel to head,
And bear him to our rock with speed;
And then we'll turn, and kill, and kill,
And spoil and ravage at our will!
That cumbrous host we well may dread,
With doughty Eric at its head;
But, rend that moving spring away,
And down it falls the spoiler's prey.
What boots it me a maiden's vow,
Vouchsafed I see not why, nor how?
If Donald this achievement grand
Performs by dint of shield and brand,
He reigns the King of fair Scotland!”—
220
And every sword on buckler rung.
| The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd | |