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"O Alice, 'twas all for thy locks so bright,
And 'twas all for thine eyes so blue,
That on the night of our luckless flight,
Thy brother bold I slew.

"Now must I teach to hew the beech The hand that held the glave, 15 For leaves to spread our lowly bed, And stakes to fence our cave.

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"And for vest of pall, thy fingers small, That wont on harp to stray,

A cloak must shear from the slaughter'd deer,
To keep the cold away."-

"O Richard! if my brother died,
'Twas but a fatal chance;
For darkling was the battle tried,
And fortune sped the lance.

25 "If pall and vair no more I wear, Nor thou the crimson sheen,

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As warm, we'll say, is the russet grey,
As gay the forest green.

"And, Richard, if our lot be hard,

And lost thy native land,

Still Alice has her own Richard,

And he his Alice Brand."

XIII.

'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood,
So blithe Lady Alice is singing;

35 On the beech's pride, and oak's brown side, Lord Richard's axe is ringing.

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Up spoke the moody Elfin King,

Who won'd within the hill,

Like wind in the porch of a ruin'd church,
His voice was ghostly shrill.

"Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak,
Our moonlight circle's screen?

Or who comes here to chase the deer,
Beloved of our Elfin Queen?

45 Or who may dare on wold to wear
The fairies' fatal green?

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"Up, Urgan, up! to yon mortal hie,
For thou wert christen'd man;
For cross or sign thou wilt not fly,
For mutter'd word or ban.

"Lay on him the curse of the wither'd heart,
The curse of the sleepless eye;

Till he wish and pray that his life would part,
Nor yet find leave to die."

XIV.

55 'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood,
Though the birds have still'd their singing;
The evening blaze doth Alice raise,
And Richard is fagots bringing.

60

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Up Urgan starts, that hideous dwarf,
Before Lord Richard stands,
And, as he cross'd and bless'd himself,
"I fear not sign," quoth the grisly elf,
"That is made with bloody hands."

But out then spoke she, Alice Brand,
That woman void of fear,-
"And if there's blood upon his hand,
'Tis but the blood of deer."-

"Now loud thou liest, thou bold of mood!

It cleaves unto his hand,

70 The stain of thine own kindly blood, The blood of Ethert Brand."

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Then forward stepp'd she, Alice Brand,
And made the holy sign,-

"And if there's blood on Richard's hand,
A spotless hand is mine.

"And I conjure thee, Demon elf,
By Him whom Demons fear,
To show us whence thou art thyself,
And what thine errand here?"-

XV.

80 ""Tis merry, 'tis merry, in Fairy-lanů, When fairy birds are singing,

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When the court doth ride by their monarch's side,
With bit and bridle ringing:

"And gaily shines the Fairy-land

But all is glistening show,

Like the idle gleam that December's beam

Can dart on ice and snow.

"And fading, like that varied gleam,

Is our inconstant shape,

90 Who now like knight and lady seem, And now like dwarf and ape.

"It was between the night and day, When the Fairy King has power, That I sunk down in a sinful fray, 95 And, 'twixt life and death, was snatch'd away, To the joyless Elfin bower.

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"But wist I of a woman bold,

Who thrice my brow durst sign,
I might regain my mortal mold,
As fair a form as thine."

She cross'd him once-she cross'd him twice-
That lady was so brave;

The fouler grew his goblin hue,

The darker grew the cave.

105 She cross'd him thrice, that lady bold; He rose beneath her hand

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The fairest knight on Scottish mold,
Her brother, Ethert Brand!

Merry it is in good greenwood,

When the mavis and merle are singing, But merrier were they in Dunfermeline gray When all the bells were ringing.

EDMUND'S SONG

(From Rokeby, 1812)

CANTO III. XVI.

O, Brignall banks are wild and fair,
And Greta woods are green,
And you may gather garlands there,
Would grace a summer queen.

5 And as I rode by Dalton-hall,
Beneath the turrets high,

A Maiden on the castle wall
Was singing merrily,—

CHORUS

"O, Brignall banks are fresh and fair,
And Greta woods are green;

I'd rather rove with Edmund there,

Than reign our English queen."

"If, maiden, thou wouldst wend with me, To leave both tower and town,

15 Thou first must guess what life lead we, That dwell by dale and down?

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And if thou canst that riddle read,
As read full well you may,

Then to the greenwood shalt thou speed,
As blithe as Queen of May."-

CHORUS

Yet sung she, "Brignall banks are fair,
And Greta woods are green;
I'd rather rove with Edmund there,
Than reign our English queen.

25 "I read you, by your bugle-horn, And by your palfrey good,

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I read you for a Ranger sworn,
To keep the king's greenwood.—
"A Ranger, lady, winds his horn,
And 'tis at peep of light;

His blast is heard at merry morn,
And mine at dead of night."-

CHORUS

Yet sung she, “Brignall banks are fair,
And Greta woods are gay;

35 I would I were with Edmund there,
To reign his Queen of May!

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"With burnish'd brand and musketoon, So gallantly you come,

I read you for a bold dragoon,

That lists the tuck of drum."

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