Part 4

"O see ye not yon narrow road, So thick beset with thorns and briers? That is the path of righteousness, Though after it but few inquires.

"And see ye not that braid braid road, That lies across that lily leven? That is the path of wickedness, Though some call it the road to heaven.

"And see not ye that bonny road, That winds about the fernie brae? That is the road to fair Elfland, Where thou and I this night maun gae.

"But, Thomas, ye maun hold your tongue, Whatever ye may hear or see; For, if ye speak word in Elfyn land, Ye'll ne'er get back to your ain countrie."

O they rade on, and farther on, And they waded through rivers aboon the knee, And they saw neither sun nor moon, But they heard the roaring of the sea.

It was mirk mirk night, and there was nae stern light, And they waded through red blude to the knee, For a' the blude that's shed on earth Rins through the springs o' that countrie.

Syne they came on to a garden green, And she pu'd an apple frae a tree-- "Take this for thy wages, true Thomas; It will give thee the tongue that can never lie."

"My tongue is mine ain," true Thomas said; "A gudely gift ye wad gie to me! I neither dought to buy nor sell, At fair or tryst where I may be.

"I dought neither speak to prince or peer, Nor ask of grace from fair ladye." "Now hold thy peace!" the lady said, "For as I say, so must it be."

He has gotten a coat of the even cloth, And a pair of shoes of velvet green; And till seven years were gane and past, True Thomas on earth was never seen.

_Walter Scott._

FOOTNOTES:

[2] A spot afterwards included in the domain of Abbotsford.

[3] Wonder.

[4] Each.

[5] Bowed.

[6] Destiny shall not alarm me.

[7] Wonders.

THE GREEN GNOME.

A MELODY.

Ring, sing! ring, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, rhyme! chime, rhyme! through dales and dells! Rhyme, ring! chime, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, sing! rhyme, ring! over fields and fells!

And I galloped and I galloped on my palfrey white as milk, My robe was of the sea-green woof, my serk was of the silk; My hair was golden-yellow, and it floated to my shoe; My eyes were like two harebells bathed in little drops of dew; My palfrey, never stopping, made a music sweetly blent With the leaves of autumn dropping all around me as I went; And I heard the bells, grown fainter, far behind me peal and play, Fainter, fainter, fainter, till they seemed to die away; And beside a silver runnel, on a little heap of sand, I saw the green gnome sitting, with his cheek upon his hand. Then he started up to see me, and he ran with a cry and bound, And drew me from my palfrey white and set me on the ground. O crimson, crimson were his locks, his face was green to see, But he cried, "O light-haired lassie, you are bound to marry me!" He clasped me round the middle small, he kissed me on the cheek, He kissed me once, he kissed me twice, I could not stir or speak; He kissed me twice, he kissed me thrice; but when he kissed again, I called aloud upon the name of Him who died for men.

Sing, sing! ring, ring! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, rhyme! chime, rhyme! through dales and dells! Rhyme, ring! chime, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, sing! rhyme, ring! over fields and fells!

O faintly, faintly, faintly, calling men and maids to pray, So faintly, faintly, faintly rang the bells far away; And as I named the Blessed Name, as in our need we can, The ugly green gnome became a tall and comely man: His hands were white, his beard was gold, his eyes were black as sloes, His tunic was of scarlet woof, and silken were his hose; A pensive light from faeryland still lingered on his cheek, His voice was like the running brook when he began to speak: "O, you have cast away the charm my step-dame put on me, Seven years have I dwelt in Faeryland, and you have set me free. O, I will mount thy palfrey white, and ride to kirk with thee, And, by those dewy little eyes, we twain will wedded be!"

Back we galloped, never stopping, he before and I behind, And the autumn leaves were dropping, red and yellow in the wind; And the sun was shining clearer, and my heart was high and proud, As nearer, nearer, nearer rang the kirk bells sweet and loud, And we saw the kirk, before us, as we trotted down the fells, And nearer, clearer, o'er us, rang the welcome of the bells.

Ring, sing! ring, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, rhyme! chime, rhyme! through dales and dells! Rhyme, ring! chime, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, sing! rhyme, ring! over fields and fells!

_Robert Buchanan._

FRIAR PEDRO'S RIDE.

It was the morning season of the year; It was the morning era of the land; The watercourses rang full loud and clear; Portala's cross stood where Portala's hand Had planted it when Faith was taught by Fear, When monks and missions held the sole command Of all that shore beside the peaceful sea, Where spring-tides beat their long-drawn reveille.

Out of the Mission of San Luis Rey, All in that brisk, tumultuous spring weather, Rode Friar Pedro, in a pious way, With six dragoons in cuirasses of leather, Each armed alike for either prayer or fray, Handcuffs and missals they had slung together; And as in aid the gospel truth to scatter Each swung a lasso--_alias_ a "riata."

In sooth, that year the harvest had been slack, The crop of converts scarce worth computation; Some souls were lost, whose owners had turned back To save their bodies frequent flagellation; And some preferred the songs of birds, alack! To Latin matins and their soul's salvation, And thought their own wild whoopings were less dreary Than Father Pedro's droning _miserere_.

To bring them back to matins and to prime, To pious works and secular submission, To prove to them that liberty was crime,-- This was, in fact, the Padre's present mission; To get new souls perchance at the same time, And bring them to a "sense of their condition"-- That easy phrase, which, in the past and present, Means making that condition most unpleasant.

He saw the glebe land guiltless of a furrow; He saw the wild oats wrestle on the hill; He saw the gopher working in his burrow; He saw the squirrel scampering at his will;-- He saw all this and felt no doubt a thorough And deep conviction of God's goodness; still He failed to see that in His glory He Yet left the humblest of His creatures free.

He saw the flapping crow, whose frequent note Voiced the monotony of land and sky, Mocking with graceless wing and rusty coat His priestly presence as he trotted by. He would have cursed the bird by bell and rote, But other game just then was in his eye-- A savage camp, whose occupants preferred Their heathen darkness to the living Word.

He rang his bell, and at the martial sound Twelve silver spurs their jingling rowels clashed; Six horses sprang across the level ground As six dragoons in open order dashed; Above their heads the lassos circled round, In every eye a pious fervor flashed; They charged the camp, and in one moment more They lassoed six and reconverted four.

The Friar saw the conflict from a knoll, And sang _Laus Deo_ and cheered on his men: "Well thrown, Bautista--that's another soul; After him, Gomez--try it once again; This way, Felipe--there the heathen stole; Bones of St. Francis!--surely that makes _ten_; _Te deum laudamus_--but they're very wild; _Non nobis dominus_--all right, my child!"

When at that moment--as the story goes-- A certain squaw, who had her foes eluded, Ran past the Friar--just before his nose. He stared a moment, and in silence brooded, Then in his breast a pious frenzy rose And every other prudent thought excluded; He caught a lasso, and dashed in a canter After that Occidental Atalanta.

High o'er his head he swirled the dreadful noose, But, as the practice was quite unfamiliar, His first cast tore Felipe's captive loose And almost choked Tiburcio Camilla, And might have interfered with that brave youth's Ability to gorge the tough _tortilla_; But all things come by practice, and at last His flying slip-knot caught the maiden fast.

Then rose above the plain a mingled yell Of rage and triumph--a demoniac whoop; The Padre heard it like a passing knell, And would have loosened his unchristian loop; But the tough raw-hide held the captive well, And held, alas! too well the captor-dupe; For with one bound the savage fled amain, Dragging horse, Friar, down the lonely plain.

Down the _arroyo_, out across the mead, By heath and hollow, sped the flying maid, Dragging behind her still the panting steed And helpless Friar, who in vain essayed To cut the lasso or to check his speed. He felt himself beyond all human aid, And trusted to the saints--and, for that matter, To some weak spot in Felipe's _riata_.

Alas! the lasso had been duly blessed, And, like baptism, held the flying wretch-- A doctrine that the priest had oft expressed-- Which, like the lasso, might be made to stretch But would not break; so neither could divest Themselves of it, but, like some awful _fetch_, The holy Friar had to recognize The image of his fate in heathen guise.

He saw the glebe land guiltless of a furrow; He saw the wild oats wrestle on the hill; He saw the gopher standing in his burrow; He saw the squirrel scampering at his will;-- He saw all this, and felt no doubt how thorough The contrast was to his condition; still The squaw kept onward to the sea, till night And the cold sea-fog hid them both from sight.

The morning came above the serried coast, Lighting the snow-peaks with its beacon fires, Driving before it all the fleet-winged host Of chattering birds above the Mission spires, Filling the land with light and joy--but most The savage woods with all their leafy lyres; In pearly tints and opal flame and fire The morning came, but not the holy Friar.

Weeks passed away. In vain the Fathers sought Some trace or token that might tell his story; Some thought him dead, or, like Elijah, caught Up to the heavens in a blaze of glory. In this surmise some miracles were wrought On his account, and souls in purgatory Were thought to profit from his intercession; In brief, his absence made a "deep impression."

A twelvemonth passed; the welcome Spring once more Made green the hills beside the white-faced Mission, Spread her bright dais by the western shore, And sat enthroned--a most resplendent vision. The heathen converts thronged the chapel door At morning mass, when, says the old tradition, A frightful whoop throughout the church resounded, And to their feet the congregation bounded.

A tramp of hoofs upon the beaten course, Then came a sight that made the bravest quail: A phantom Friar on a spectre horse, Dragged by a creature decked with horns and tail. By the lone Mission, with the whirlwind's force, They madly swept, and left a sulphurous trail-- And that was all--enough to tell the story And leave unblessed those souls in purgatory.

And ever after, on that fatal day That Friar Pedro rode abroad lassoing, A ghostly couple came and went away With savage whoop and heathenish hallooing, Which brought discredit on San Luis Rey, And proved the Mission's ruin and undoing; For ere ten years had passed, the squaw and Friar Performed to empty walls and fallen spire.

The Mission is no more; upon its walls The golden lizards slip, or breathless pause Still as the sunshine brokenly that falls Through crannied roof and spider-webs of gauze; No more the bell its solemn warning calls-- A holier silence thrills and overawes; And the sharp lights and shadows of to-day Outline the Mission of San Luis Rey.

_Bret Harte._

TAM O' SHANTER.

When chapman billies leave the street, And drouthy neebors, neebors meet, As market-days are wearing late, An' folk begin to tak the gate; While we sit bousing at the nappy, An' getting fou and unco happy, We thinkna on the lang Scots miles, The mosses, waters, slaps, and stiles, That lie between us and our hame, Whare sits our sulky sullen dame, Gathering her brows like gathering storm, Nursing her wrath to keep it warm. This truth fand honest Tam O' Shanter, As he frae Ayr ae night did canter (Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses, For honest men and bonnie lasses). O Tam! hadst thou but been sae wise, As ta'en thy ain wife Kate's advice! She tauld thee weel thou wast a skellum, A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum; That frae November till October, Ae market-day thou was nae sober; That ilka melder, wi' the miller, Thou sat as lang as thou had siller; That every naig was ca'd a shoe on, The smith and thee gat roaring fou on; That at the Lord's house, even on Sunday, Thou drank wi' Kirkton Jean till Monday. She prophesied that, late or soon, Thou would be found deep drowned in Doon; Or catched wi' warlocks i' the mirk, By Alloway's auld haunted kirk. Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet, To think how mony counsels sweet, How mony lengthened, sage advices, The husband frae the wife despises! But to our tale: Ae market-night, Tam had got planted unco right; Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely, Wi' reaming swats, that drank divinely; And at his elbow, Souter Johnny, His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony; Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither; They had been fou for weeks thegither. The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter; And ay the ale was growing better: The landlady and Tam grew gracious, Wi' favors, secret, sweet, and precious: The souter tauld his queerest stories; The landlord's laugh was ready chorus: The storm without might rair and rustle, Tam didna mind the storm a whistle. Care, mad to see a man sae happy, E'en drowned himself amang the nappy! As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure, The minutes winged their way wi' pleasure: Kings may be blessed, but Tam was glorious, O'er a' the ills o' life victorious! But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river, A moment white, then melts forever; Or like the borealis race, That flit ere you can point their place; Or like the rainbow's lovely form Evanishing amid the storm. Nae man can tether time or tide;-- The hour approaches Tam maun ride; That hour, o' night's black arch the key-stane, That dreary hour he mounts his beast on; And sic a night he taks the road in, As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in. The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last; The rattling showers rose on the blast; The speedy gleams the darkness swallowed; Loud, deep, and lang the thunder bellowed: That night, a child might understand, The Deil had business on his hand. Well mounted on his gray mare, Meg,-- A better never lifted leg,-- Tam skelpit on through dub and mire, Despising wind and rain and fire; Whiles holding fast his guid blue bonnet; Whiles crooning o'er some auld Scots sonnet; Whiles glowering round wi' prudent cares, Lest bogles catch him unawares; Kirk Alloway was drawing nigh, Whare ghaists and houlets nightly cry. By this time he was cross the ford, Whare in the snaw the chapman smoored; And past the birks and meikle-stane, Whare drunken Charlie brak's neck-bane; And through the whins, and by the cairn, Whare hunters fand the murdered bairn: And near the thorn aboon the well, Whare Mungo's mither hanged hersel. Before him Doon pours all his floods; The doubling storm roars through the woods; The lightnings flash from pole to pole; Near and more near the thunders roll: When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees, Kirk Alloway seemed in a bleeze; Through ilka bore the beams were glancing; And loud resounded mirth and dancing. Inspiring bold John Barleycorn! What dangers thou canst make us scorn! Wi' tippenny, we fear nae evil; Wi' usquebae, we'll face the Devil! The swats sae reamed in Tammie's noddle, Fair play, he cared na deils a boddle, But Maggie stood right sair astonished, Till by the heel and hand admonished, She ventured forward on the light; And, wow! Tam saw an unco sight! Warlocks and witches in a dance; Nae cotillon brent new frae France, But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels, Put life and mettle in their heels. At winnock-bunker in the east, There sat auld Nick, in shape o' beast; A towzie tyke, black, grim, and large, To gie them music was his charge: He screwed the pipes and gart them skirl, Till roof and rafters a' did dirl,-- Coffins stood round, like open presses, That shawed the dead in their last dresses; And by some devilish cantrip sleight, Each in its cauld hand held a light,-- By which heroic Tam was able To note upon the haly table, A murderers's banes in gibbet airns; Two span-lang, wee, unchristened bairns; A thief, new cutted fra a rape, Wi' his last gasp his gab did gape; Five tomahawks, wi' bluid red rusted; Five scymitars, wi' murder crusted; A garter which a babe had strangled; A knife a father's throat had mangled, Whom his ain son o' life bereft-- The gray hairs yet stack to the heft; Three lawyers' tongues turned inside out, Wi' lies seamed like a beggar's clout; And priests' hearts, rotten, black as muck, Lay stinking, vile, in every neuk: Wi' mair o' horrible and awfu', Which ev'n to name wad be unlawfu'. As Tammie glowered, amazed, and curious, The mirth and fun grew fast and furious; The piper loud and louder blew; The dancers quick and quicker flew; They reeled, they set, they crossed, they cleckit, Till ilka carlin swat and reekit, And coost her duddies to the wark, And linket at it in her sark. Now Tam, O Tam! had they been queans A' plump and strapping in their teens: Their sarks, instead o' creeshie flannen, Been snaw-white seventeen-hunder linen; Thir breeks o' mine, my only pair, That ance were plush, o' guid blue hair, I wad hae gi'en them aff my hurdies, For ae blink o' the bonnie burdies! But withered beldams, auld and droll, Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal, Lowping an' flinging on a crummock-- I wonder did na turn thy stomach. But Tam kenned what was what fu' brawlie. There was ae winsome wench and walie, That night inlisted in the core (Lang after kenned on Carrick shore! For monie a beast to dead she shot, And perished monie a bonnie boat, And shook baith meikle corn and bear And kept the country-side in fear), Her cutty-sark, o' Paisley harn, That while a lassie she had worn, In longitude tho' sorely scanty, It was her best, and she was vauntie. Ah! little kenned thy reverend grannie That sark she coft for her wee Nannie, Wi' twa pund Scots (twas a' her riches), Wad ever graced a dance o' witches! But here my Muse her wing maun cow'r; Sic flights are far beyond her pow'r; To sing how Nannie lap and flang, (A souple jad she was and strang!) And how Tam stood, like ane bewitched, And thought his very een enriched. Ev'n Satan glowered, and fidged fu' fain, And hotch'd and blew wi' might and main; Till first ae caper, syne anither, Tam tint his reason a' thegither, And roars out, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!" And in an instant a' was dark; And scarcely had he Maggie rallied, When out the hellish legion sallied. As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke, When plundering herds assail their byke; As open pussie's mortal foes, When pop! she starts before their nose; As eager runs the market-crowd, When "Catch the thief!" resounds aloud; So Maggie runs,--the witches follow, Wi' monie an eldritch skreech and hollow. Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou'lt get thy fairin'! In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin! In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin'-- Kate soon will be a woefu' woman! Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg, And win the key-stane of the brig; There at them thou thy tail may toss,-- A running stream they dare na cross. But ere the key-stane she could make, The fient a tail she had to shake; For Nannie, far before the rest, Hard upon noble Maggie prest, And flew at Tam wi' furious ettle; But little wist she Maggie's mettle-- Ae spring brought off her master hale, But left behind her ain gray tail: The carlin claught her by the rump, And left poor Maggie scarce a stump. Now, wha this tale o' truth shall read, Ilk man and mother's son take heed; Whene'er to drink you are inclined, Or cutty-sarks run in your mind, Think, ye may buy the joys o'er dear, Remember Tam o' Shanter's mare.

_Robert Burns._

THE WILD HUNTSMAN.

The Wildgrave winds his bugle horn, To horse, to horse! halloo, halloo! His fiery courser snuffs the morn, And thronging serfs their lord pursue.

The eager pack, from couples freed, Dash through the brush, the brier, the brake; While answering hound, and horn, and steed, The mountain echoes startling wake.

The beams of God's own hallowed day Had painted yonder spire with gold, And, calling sinful man to pray, Loud, long, and deep the bell had tolled.

But still the Wildgrave onward rides; Halloo, halloo! and hark again! When spurring from opposing sides, Two Stranger Horsemen join the train.

Who was each Stranger, left and right, Well may I guess, but dare not tell; The right-hand steed was silver white, The left, the swarthy hue of hell.

The right-hand Horseman young and fair, His smile was like the morn of May; The left, from eye of tawny glare, Shot midnight lightning's lurid ray.

He waved his huntsman's cap on high, Cried, "Welcome, welcome, noble lord! What sport can earth, or sea, or sky, To match the princely chase, afford?"

"Cease thy loud bugle's clanging knell," Cried the fair youth, with silver voice; "And for devotion's choral swell, Exchange the rude unhallowed noise.

"To-day, the ill-omened chase forbear, Yon bell yet summons to the fane; To-day the Warning Spirit hear, To-morrow thou mayst mourn in vain."--

"Away, and sweep the glades along!" The Sable Hunter hoarse replies; "To muttering monks leave matin-song, And bell, and books, and mysteries."

The Wildgrave spurred his ardent steed, And, launching forward with a bound, "Who, for thy drowsy priestlike rede, Would leave the jovial horn and hound?"

"Hence, if our manly sport offend! With pious fools go chant and pray: Well hast thou spoke, my dark-browed friend; Halloo, halloo! and, hark away!"