Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs By Walter Thornbury. Illustrated by J. Whistler, F. Walker, John Tenniel, J. D. Watson, W. Small, F. Sandys, G. J. Pinwell, T. Morten, M. J. Lawless, and many others |
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The Gibbet Tree.
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 | Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs |  |
The Gibbet Tree.
Olaf and Guthren, abbot's thralls,
Were hewing abbey wood;
Pine beams for chancel roof they sought,
And oak beams for the rood.
Were hewing abbey wood;
Pine beams for chancel roof they sought,
And oak beams for the rood.
Around them north and south there spread
The cuckoo-flowers in bloom;
But overhead the raven croaked,
Amid the pine-trees' gloom.
The cuckoo-flowers in bloom;
But overhead the raven croaked,
Amid the pine-trees' gloom.
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Blue miles of drooping hyacinths
Spread where the saplings grew;
But still the raven boded ill,
Above them out of view.
Spread where the saplings grew;
But still the raven boded ill,
Above them out of view.
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The violets long had passed away;
But where the axes rang—
All in between the hazel stems—
The speckled orchis sprang.
But where the axes rang—
All in between the hazel stems—
The speckled orchis sprang.
The wild deer eyed them down the dell;
Down from the great beech-tree
The climbing squirrel turned to look,
And watched them silently.
Down from the great beech-tree
The climbing squirrel turned to look,
And watched them silently.
The sunshine, barred with shadow-firs,
Cast gleams across the dell;
The thrushes piped and fluted
Where'er the sunbeams fell.
Cast gleams across the dell;
The thrushes piped and fluted
Where'er the sunbeams fell.
Woodpeckers ceased no measured toil,
Hearing the woodmen's tread;
No merry blackbird hushed his song;
No echoing cuckoo fled.
Hearing the woodmen's tread;
No merry blackbird hushed his song;
No echoing cuckoo fled.
With axes glittering keen and bright,
Amid the fir-trees' line,
With song and psalm and gibe and curse,
They hewed a stately pine.
Amid the fir-trees' line,
With song and psalm and gibe and curse,
They hewed a stately pine.
In splashing showers the splinters flew
Around them as they wrought:
Deep in the centre of the glade
They'd found the tree they sought:—
Around them as they wrought:
Deep in the centre of the glade
They'd found the tree they sought:—
A giant mainmast—massy, huge,
All jagg'd with broken spars,
With lessening ledges of close boughs,
Impierceable by stars.
All jagg'd with broken spars,
With lessening ledges of close boughs,
Impierceable by stars.
They clove it slowly, gash by gash,
With ever-hungry steel;
Slowly before their stalwart arms
The tree began to reel.
With ever-hungry steel;
Slowly before their stalwart arms
The tree began to reel.
“Who knows,” quoth Olaf, laughing-eyed,
“This tree that soon will fall
May prove a gibbet for some wretch
To swing and scare us all?”
“This tree that soon will fall
May prove a gibbet for some wretch
To swing and scare us all?”
Then Guthren laughed, and bit his beard,
And said, “Why, Olaf, man,
We hew the beams for an organ-loft
And for a shaven clan.”
And said, “Why, Olaf, man,
We hew the beams for an organ-loft
And for a shaven clan.”
Just then, beneath the heaving roots,
They saw a brazen urn,
Brimming with coined Roman gold,
That made their wild eyes burn.
They saw a brazen urn,
Brimming with coined Roman gold,
That made their wild eyes burn.
They ran to it, they fought for it,
They grappled in their pride;—
Till wild beast Guthren drove his knife
Into fierce Olaf's side.
They grappled in their pride;—
Till wild beast Guthren drove his knife
Into fierce Olaf's side.
On that day week the raven sat
Above the fir-trees' line,
And croaked, his prophecies fulfilled,
Upon the gibbet pine.
Above the fir-trees' line,
And croaked, his prophecies fulfilled,
Upon the gibbet pine.
Above the spot that still was red
With murdered Olaf's blood
Swung Guthren—he, the abbot's thrall,
Who'd hewed the gibbet wood.
With murdered Olaf's blood
Swung Guthren—he, the abbot's thrall,
Who'd hewed the gibbet wood.
| Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs | |