Volume Ii Part 11 (2/2)
”They'll turn me in your arms, Janet, ”An adder and an ask; ”They'll turn me in your arms, Janet, ”A bale[C] that burns fast.
”They'll turn me in your arms, Janet, ”A red-hot gad o' aim; ”But had me fast, let me not pa.s.s, ”For I'll do you no harm.
”First, dip me in a stand o' milk, ”And then in a stand o' water; ”But had me fast, let me not pa.s.s-- ”I'll be your bairn's father.
”And, next, they'll shape me in your arms, ”A toad, but and an eel; ”But had me fast, nor let me gang, ”As you do love me weel.
”They'll shape me in your arms, Janet, ”A dove, but and a swan; ”And, last, they'll shape me in your arms, ”A mother-naked man: ”Cast your green mantle over me-- ”I'll be mysell again.”
Gloomy, gloomy, was the night, And eiry[D] was the way, As fair Janet, in her green mantle, To Miles Cross she did gae.
The heavens were black, the night was dark, And dreary was the place;
But Janet stood, with eager wish, Her lover to embrace.
Betwixt the hours of twelve and one, A north wind tore the bent; And straight she heard strange elritch sounds Upon that wind which went.
About the dead hour o' the night, She heard the bridles ring; And Janet was as glad o' that, As any earthly thing!
Their oaten pipes blew wondrous shrill, The hemlock small blew clear; And louder notes from hemlock large, And bog-reed struck the ear; But solemn sounds, or sober thoughts, The Fairies cannot bear.
They sing, inspired with love and joy, Like sky-larks in the air; Of solid sense, or thought that's grave, You'll find no traces there.
Fair Janet stood, with mind unmoved, The dreary heath upon; And louder, louder, wax'd the sound, As they came riding on.
Will o' Wisp before them went, Sent forth a twinkling light; And soon she saw the Fairy bands All riding in her sight.
And first gaed by the black black steed, And then gaed by the brown; But fast she gript the milk-white steed, And pu'd the rider down.
She pu'd him frae the milk-white steed, And loot the bridle fa'; And up there raise an erlish[E] cry-- ”He's won amang us a'!”
They shaped him in fair Janet's arms, An esk[F], but and an adder; She held him fast in every shape-- To be her bairn's father.
They shaped him in her arms at last, A mother-naked man; She wrapt him in her green mantle, And sae her true love wan.
Up then spake the Queen o' Fairies, Out o' a bush o' broom-- ”She that has borrowed young Tamlane, Has gotten a stately groom.”
Up then spake the Queen of Fairies, Out o' a bush of rye-- ”She's ta'en awa the bonniest knight In a' my c.u.mpanie.
”But had I kenn'd, Tamlane,” she says, ”A lady wad borrowed thee-- ”I wad ta'en out thy twa gray een, ”Put in twa een o' tree.
”Had I but kenn'd, Tamlane,” she says, ”Before ye came frae hame-- ”I wad tane out your heart o' flesh, ”Put in a heart o' stane.
”Had I but had the wit yestreen, ”That I hae coft[G] the day-- ”I'd paid my kane seven times to h.e.l.l, ”Ere you'd been won away!”
[Footnote A: The ladies are always represented, in Dunbar's Poems, with green mantles and yellow hair. _Maitland Poems,_ Vol. I. p. 45.]
[Footnote B: _Sained_--Hallowed.]
<script>