(the day of the battle) a native of Caithness, in Scotland, saw, at a distance, a number of persons on horseback riding full speed towards a hill, and seeming to enter into it.  Curiosity led him to follow them, till, looking through an opening in the rocks, he saw twelve gigantic figures,[3] resembling women:  they were all employed about a loom; and as they wove they sung the following dreadful song, which, when they had finished, they tore the web into twelve pieces, and each taking her portion, galloped six to the north, and as many to the south.

  1 Now the storm begins to lower,
      (Haste, the loom of Hell prepare!)
    Iron-sleet of arrowy shower
      Hurtles in the darken’d air.

  2 Glittering lances are the loom
      Where the dusky warp we strain,
    Weaving many a soldier’s doom,
      Orkney’s woe and Randver’s bane.

  3 See the grisly texture grow,
      (’Tis of human entrails made,)
    And the weights that play below,
      Each a gasping warrior’s head.

  4 Shafts for shuttles, dipp’d in gore,
      Shoot the trembling cords along: 
    Sword, that once a monarch bore,
      Keep the tissue close and strong.

  5 Mista, black, terrific maid! 
      Sangrida and Hilda see,
    Join the wayward work to aid: 
      ’Tis the woof of victory.

  6 Ere the ruddy sun be set,
      Pikes must shiver, javelins sing,
    Blade with clattering buckler meet,
      Hauberk crash, and helmet ring.

  7 (Weave the crimson web of war)
      Let us go, and let us fly,
    Where our friends the conflict share,
      Where they triumph, where they die.

  8 As the paths of Fate we tread,
      Wading through th’ ensanguined field,
    Gondula and Geira spread
      O’er the youthful king your shield.

  9 We the reins to Slaughter give,
      Ours to kill and ours to spare: 
    Spite of danger he shall live;
      (Weave the crimson web of war.)

  10 They whom once the desert beach
       Pent within its bleak domain,
     Soon their ample sway shall stretch
       O’er the plenty of the plain.

  11 Low the dauntless earl is laid,
       Gored with many a gaping wound: 
     Fate demands a nobler head;
       Soon a king shall bite the ground.

  12 Long his loss shall Eirin[4] weep,
       Ne’er again his likeness see;
     Long her strains in sorrow steep,
       Strains of immortality!

  13 Horror covers all the heath,
       Clouds of carnage blot the sun: 
     Sisters! weave the web of death: 
       Sisters! cease; the work is done.

  14 Hail the task and hail the hands! 
       Songs of joy and triumph sing! 
     Joy to the victorious bands,
       Triumph to the younger king!

  15 Mortal! thou that hear’st the tale,
       Learn the tenor of our song;
     Scotland! through each winding vale
       Far and wide the notes prolong.