Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
Dame Marthas Fountain
By Bernhard Severin Ingemann (17891862)D
So many kind deeds she wrought:
If the winter were sharp, and the rich man hard,
Her gate the indigent sought.
To the sick she lent her aid,
The prisoner oft from his chains she freed,
And for souls of sinners she prayed.
The Swede around burnt and slew,
The castle of Martha they wrapped in fire;
To the church the good lady flew.
There unto her none repaired;
’Neath the church-roof sat the dull owl gray,
And upon the good lady glared.
Till the foes their departure had ta’en;
Then back to her castle in ruins she went,
And bade it be builded again.
And the mouths of the hungry bread;
But all in Karise by wept sore,
As soon as Dame Martha was dead.
So calm with her pallid face,
O, there was never so little a child
But was brought on her to gaze!
And youth and age shed the tear;
And there was no man so weak and old
But helped to lift the bier.
And rested upon the church road,
A fountain sprang forth in that very same place,
And there to this hour has it flowed.
Her blessings no lips can tell:
Oft straight have the sick become sound and whole
Who ’ve drank at Dame Martha’s well.
Where Dame Martha sat of old;
Oft comes a stranger thereon to look,
And with joy hears the story told.