Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/398

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SIR OLAFF AND THE ERL-KING'S DAUGHTER.
iv.
"Nay, lead thee a measure, nor will I nor may—
To-morrow, at dawning, breaks my wedding-day!"

v.
"Oh! hear me, Sir Olaff, and dance here with me—
The gold spurs of knighthood I'll give unto thee!

vi.
"And a shirt of the. silk, so fine and so white,
That my mother hath bleached in the full moonlight."

vii.
"Nay, dance with thee, fair one, nor will I nor may,
To-morrow, at dawning, wakes my wedding-day."

viii.
"Oh! hear me, Sir Olaff, and dance here with me,
A heap of red gold I will give unto thee."

ix.
"The heap of red gold were right welcome to me,—
But I cannot, I dare not dance, lady, with thee."

x.
"Thou wilt not? Then happy thy bride shall be never,
Sickness and sorrow shall follow thee ever!"

xi.
Lightly she touched both his breast and his brow—
In anguish he shrank from the death-giving blow.

xii.
She raised him, all fainting and pale, on his steed—
"Home! home to thy maid with a doomed lover's speed!"

xiii.
Home, home rode Sir Olaff; he reached his own gate,
Where alone stood his mother, disconsolate.

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