So the witch was consumed on the
sacred pyre,
And the priest grew
in power and pride,
And the witch left a son to succeed
his sire
In the halls and the
lands of Clyde.
And the infant waxed comely and
strong and brave,
But his manhood had
scarce begun,
When his vessel was launched on
the northern wave
To the shores which
are near the sun.
Lord Ronald has come to his halls
in Clyde
With a bride of some
unknown race;
Compared with the man who would
kiss that bride
Wallace wight were a
coward base.
Her eyes had the glare of the mountain-cat
When it springs on the
hunter’s spear,
At the head of the board when that
lady sate
Hungry men could not
eat for fear.
And the tones of her voice had that
deadly growl
Of the bloodhound that
scents its prey;
No storm was so dark as that lady’s
scowl
Under tresses of wintry
gray.
“Lord Ronald! men marry for love
or gold,
Mickle rich must have
been thy bride!”
“Man’s heart may be bought,
woman’s hand be sold,
On the banks of our
northern Clyde.
“My bride is, in sooth, mickle rich
to me
Though she brought not
a groat in dower,
For her face, couldst thou see it
as I do see,
Is the fairest in hall
or bower!”
Quoth the bishop one day to our
lord the king,
“Satan reigns on the
Clyde alway,
And the taint in the blood of the
witch doth cling
To the child that she
brought to day.
“Lord Ronald hath come from the
Paynim land
With a bride that appals
the sight;
Like his dam she hath moles on her
dread right hand,
And she turns to a snake
at night.
“It is plain that a Scot who can
blindly dote
On the face of an Eastern
ghoul,
And a ghoul who was worth not a
silver groat,
Is a Scot who has lost
his soul.
“It were wise to have done
with this demon tree
Which has teemed with
such caukered fruit;
Add the soil where it stands to
my holy See,
And consign to the flames
its root.”
“Holy man!” quoth King James,
and he laughed, “we know
That thy tongue never
wags in vain,
But the Church cist is full, and
the king’s is low,
And the Clyde is a fair
domain.
“Yet a knight that’s bewitched
by a laidly fere
Needs not much to dissolve
the spell;
We will summon the bride and the
bridegroom here
Be at hand with thy
book and bell.”
Lord Ronald stood up in King James’s
court,
And his dame by his
dauntless side;
The barons who came in the hopes
of sport
Shook with fright when
they saw the bride.
