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 |  |
By this time giant Osnagar
Was from his station borne afar;
And sore by Allan Bane oppress'd,
Heaved like the sea his ample chest;
His hand unto his weapon clave—
Scarce could he wield that weighty glaive.
He in his targe to trust began,
For blood o'er all his armour ran;
And, as he wore from side to side,
Most bitterly to Odin cried.
One other minute in the strife,
And Osnagar had yielded life;
But to that goal when Allan press'd,
Two other swords met at his breast.—
“Yield!” cried King Eric, “yield, or fall!”—
“I never did, and never shall!”
The chief replied.—But Eric's arm
Waved back his friends from further harm.
Was from his station borne afar;
And sore by Allan Bane oppress'd,
Heaved like the sea his ample chest;
His hand unto his weapon clave—
Scarce could he wield that weighty glaive.
He in his targe to trust began,
For blood o'er all his armour ran;
And, as he wore from side to side,
Most bitterly to Odin cried.
One other minute in the strife,
And Osnagar had yielded life;
But to that goal when Allan press'd,
Two other swords met at his breast.—
“Yield!” cried King Eric, “yield, or fall!”—
“I never did, and never shall!”
The chief replied.—But Eric's arm
Waved back his friends from further harm.
| The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd | |