Page:Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry - 1887.djvu/194

190 one of those patches of verdant sward, known by the name of 'fairy rings,' and avoided by all peasants who wish to prosper. A long thin gleam of eastern daylight enabled him to examine accurately the being who, in this wild place and unusual hour, gave additional terror to this haunted spot. She was dressed in white from the neck to the knees; her arms, long and round and white, were perfectly bare; her head, uncovered, allowed her long hair to descend in ringlet succeeding ringlet, till the half of her person was nearly concealed in the fleece. Amidst the whole, her hands were constantly busy in shedding aside the tresses which interposed between her steady and uninterrupted gaze down a line of old road which winded among the hills to an ancient burial-ground.

"As the traveller continued to gaze, the figure suddenly rose, and, wringing the rain from her long locks, paced round and round the tree, chanting in a wild and melancholy manner an equally wild and delirious song.

The small bird's head is under its wing,

The deer sleeps on the grass;

The moon comes out, and the stars shine down,

The dew gleams like the glass:

There is no sound in the world so wide,

Save the sound of the smitten brass,

With the merry cittern and the pipe

Of the fairies as they pass.

But oh! the fire maun burn and burn,

And the hour is gone, and will never return.

The green hill cleaves, and forth, with a bound,

Comes elf and elfin steed;

The moon dives down in a golden cloud,

The stars grow dim with dread;

But a light is running along the earth,

So of heaven's they have no need:

O'er moor and moss with a shout they pass,

And the word is spur and speed—

But the fire maun burn, and I maun quake,

And the hour is gone that will never come back.

And when they came to Craigyburnwood,

The Queen of the Fairies spoke:

"Come, bind your steeds to the rushes so green,

And dance by the haunted oak: