st on thy watch,
Of my ditty the burden I pray thee to catch.
"She'd this e'en not have taken a bushel of gold,
Now no penny for me shall she ever behold."
So fast to the door went Sir Verner the knight,
He forgot to bid Damsel or Lady good-night.
THE HEDDEBY SPECTRE {22}
At evening fall I chanced to ride,
My courser to a tree I tied.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
Against a stump my head I laid,
And then to slumber I essay'd.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
As soon as sleep had closed my eye,
The murdered man to me drew nigh.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"And if thy race to mine belongs,
I call thee to avenge my wrongs.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"And them to Heddeby shalt ride,
For there my kith and kin reside.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"My father dwells there, and my mother,
There dwell my sister and my brother.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"There Kirsten dwells, my lovely wife,
And it was she who took my life.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"Her sleeping husband stifled she,
With aid of cursed beldames three.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"Then in a truss of hay concealed,
They brought me forth to this wide field.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"The page I loved the best of all,
Now rides upon my courser tall.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"Eats daily with my silver knife,
And sleeps with Kirsten fair, my wife.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"He sitteth highest at the board,
My children tremble at his word.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"To them he gives so little bread,
And mocks them now that I am dead.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"He rides about the forest grounds,
And hunts the red deer with my hounds.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"Each time the caitiff slays a deer,
He wakes me in my grave so drear.
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
"But if I to him once repair,
With him 'twill sorely, sorely fare."
_So wide thereof the story goes_.
FROM GOUDELI
Yestere'en when the bat, and the owl, and his mate,
Were holding discourse their small matters about;
And the sun, that the wee little stars might shine out,
Had extinguished the lamp of his lustre so great.
A shepherd exclaimed: "O 'twas folly that I
My love should bestow upon one never kind,
Upon Siris the lovely, whose cold, cruel mind,
Would suffer unmoved a tru
|