“And fading, like that varied gleam,
    Is our inconstant shape,
  “Who now like knight and lady seem, 90
    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,
  And ’twixt life and death was snatched away 95
    To the joyless Elfin bower.

  “But wist[16] I of a woman bold,
    Who thrice my brow durst sign,[17]
  I might regain my mortal mould,
    As fair a form as thine.” 100

  She crossed him once—­she crossed him twice—–­
    That lady was so brave;
  The fouler grew his goblin hue,
    The darker grew the cave.

  She crossed him thrice, that lady bold, 105
    He rose beneath her hand,
  The fairest knight on Scottish mould,
    Her brother, Ethert Brand!

  Merry it is in good greenwood,
    When the mavis and merle are singing, 110
  But merrier were they in Dunfermline[18] gray,
    When all the bells were ringing.

    —­Scott

[1] mavis and merle. thrush and blackbird.

[2] wold. hilly, open country.

[3] glaive. sword.

[4] pall.  A rich cloth from which mantles of noblemen were made.

[5] darkling.  In the dark.

[6] vair.  The fur of the squirrel.

[7] Elfin King.  King of the fairies.

[8] woned. dwelt.

[9] circle. dance.

[10] fairies’ fatal green.  The dress of the fairies was green and they were angered when mortals dared to wear garments of that colour.

[11] christened.  Those who had been baptized were, according to mediaeval belief, supposed to enjoy special advantages or privileges.

[12] ban. curse.

[13] grisly. horrible; hideous.

[14] kindly blood.  The blood of your kindred.

[15] conjure.  Call upon by oath.  Distinguished from conjure, meaning “to influence by magic.”

[16] wist.  See High School Grammar, p. 176.

[17] sign.  Make the sign of the cross upon ray brow.

[18] Dunfermline.  A town, about twenty miles from Edinburgh.

  THE SOLITARY REAPER.

  Behold her, single in the field,
  Yon solitary Highland lass! 
  Reaping and singing by herself,
  Stop here, or gently pass! 
  Alone she cuts and binds the grain 5
  And sings a melancholy strain. 
  Oh, listen! for the vale profound
  Is overflowing with the sound.

  No nightingale did ever chant
  So sweetly to reposing bands 10
  Of travellers in some shady haunt
  Among Arabian sands: 
  No sweeter voice was ever heard
  In spring time from the cuckoo-bird
  Breaking the silence of the seas 15
  Among the farthest Hebrides.