Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.
The Witch of FifeJames Hogg (17701835)
“W
These three lang nights frae hame?
What gars the sweat drap frae yer brow,
Like drops o’ the saut sea-faem?
What gude man never knew;
It fears me muckle ye have been,
Where the gray cock never crew.
Then sharp yer word will be;
Ye had better sleep in yer bed at hame,
Wi’ yer dear little bairns and me.”
Sit dune, and listen to me;
I’ll gar the hair stand on yer crown,
And the cauld sweat blind yer e’e.
Tell never a word again;
Or dear shall be your courtesy,
And driche and sair yer pain.
When all was douffe and mirk,
We saddled our nags wi’ the moon-fern leaf,
And rode frae Kilmerrin kirk.
And some of the green bay tree;
But mine was made of ane hemlock shaw,
And a stout stallion was he.
The martin on the law;
And we hunted the owlet out o’ breath,
And forced him doune to fa’.”
What guid was that to thee?
Ye would better have been in yer bed at hame,
Wi’ yer dear little bairns and me.”—
Through the merkest gloffs of the night;
And we swam the flood, and we darnit the wood,
Till we came to the Lommond height.
Sae lightly we lighted doune;
And we drank frae the horns that never grew,
The beer that was never browin.
From neath the moss-gray stane;
His face was wan like the colliflower,
For he neither had blude nor bane.
And he played sae bonnily,
Till the gray curlew, and the black-cock flew
To listen his melodye.
That the night-wind lowner blew;
And it soupit alang the Loch Leven,
And wakened the white sea-mew.
Sae sweetly and sae shrill,
That the weasels leaped out of their mouldy holes,
And danced on the midnight hill.
The erne gaed veering bye;
And the trouts leaped out of the Leven Loch,
Charmed with the melodye.
Till the dawn on the ocean grew:
Nae wonder I was a weary wight
When I cam hame to you.”—
What guid was that to thee?
Ye wad better have been in yer bed at hame,
Wi’ yer dear little bairns and me.”—
O’er the roaring sea we flew;
The cockle-shell our trusty bark,
Our sails of the green sea-rue.
And the sea ran to the sky;
And the thunder it growled, and the sea-dogs howled,
As we gaed scurrying by.
Till we brushed through the clouds of heaven,
Then soused downright like the stern-shot light,
Fra the lift’s blue casement driven.
And sae pang was our pearly prow;
When we couldna speil the brow of the waves,
We needled them through below.
As fast as the midnight leme,
We bored the breast of the bursting swale,
Or fluffed in the floating faem.
We mounted our steeds of the wind,
And we splashed the floode, and we darnit the wood,
And we left the shore behind.
And swift is the couryng grew;
The rein-deer dun can eithly run,
When the hounds and the horns pursue.
The hind nor the couryng grew,
Could fly o’er mountain, moor, and dale,
As our braw steeds they flew.
And we rose to the skies ee-bree:
White, white was our road that was never trode,
O’er the snows of eternity.
The fairies were all in array,
For all the genii of the north
Were keeping their holiday.
And the fays of the wood and the steep,
And the phantom hunters all were there,
And the mermaids of the deep.
Distilled frae the moorland dew,
Till our beauty bloomed like the Lapland rose,
That wild in the foreste grew.”—
Sae loud as I hear ye lee!
For the worst-faured wyfe on the shores of Fyfe
Is comely compared wi’ thee.”—
Sae sweetly swelled the choir;
On every cliffe a harp they hang,
On every tree a lyre.
And we drank, and we drank sae deep;
Then soft in the arms of the warlock men,
We laid us dune to sleep.”—
An ill death might ye dee!
When ye hae proved sae false to yer God,
Ye can never prove true to me.”—
And frae our master true,
The words that can bear us through the air,
And locks and bars undo.
Right well the words we knew;
And we set a foot on the black cruik-shell,
And out at the lum we flew.
And we flew o’er firth and sea,
Untill we cam to merry Carlisle,
Where we lighted on the lea.
Where we entered free as air;
And we drank, and we drank of the bishop’s wine
Till we could drink nae mair.”—
Whilk thou hast tauld to me,
Betide my death, betide my lyfe,
I’ll bear thee company.
To drink of the blude-red wine,
Beshrew my heart, I’ll fly with thee,
If the deil should fly behind.”—
The dangers we maun dree;
Last night we drank of the bishop’s wine,
Till near near taen were we.
The gor-cocks nichering flew;
The lofty crest of Ettrick Pen
Was waved about with blue,
And, flichtering through the air, we fand
The chill chill morning dew.
The sun rose fair and clear;
There gurly James, and his barons braw,
Were out to hunt the deer.
And pierced the air with speed,
Till purple fell the morning dew
With witch-blude rank and red.
The dangers we maun dree;
Ne wonder I am a weary wight
When I come hame to thee.”—
Come tell it me speedily;
For I long to drink of the gude red wine,
And to wing the air with thee.
Nor sail the seas in the wind;
But I can flee as well as thee,
And I’ll drink till ye be blind.”
That word I darena tell;
It would turn this warld all upside down,
And make it warse than hell.
Wald mount the wind and fly;
And the men would doff their doublets syde,
And after them would ply.”—
And a cunning auld man was he;
And he watched and he watched for mony a night,
The witches’ flight to see.
The fearless hags came in;
And he heard the word of awesome weird;
And he saw their deeds of sin.
As fast to the fire they drew;
Then set a foot on the black cruik-shell,
And out at the lum they flew.
With fear and muckle dread,
But yet he couldna think to rue,
For the wine came in his head.
With a fixed and a wawling ee;
And he said the word that I darena say,
And out at the lum flew he.
Deep groaned the trembling wind;
But they never wist that our auld gudeman
Was hovering them behind.
Where they entered free as air;
And they drank, and they drank of the bishop’s wine
Till they coulde drink nae mair.
He danced on the mouldy ground,
And he sang the bonniest songs of Fife,
And he tuzzlit the kerlyngs round.
And he sucked, and he sucked sae lang,
Till his een they closed, and his voice grew low,
And his tongue would hardly gang.
Till they scented the morning wind;
Then clove again the yielding air,
And left the auld man behinde.
He slept and he snored amain;
He never dreamed he was far frae hame,
Or that the auld wives were gane.
Till past the mid-day heighte,
When wakened by five rough Englishmen,
That trailed him to the lighte.
That sleeps sae sound and sae weel?
How gat ye into the bishop’s vault
Through locks and bars of steel?”
But ane word he couldna finde;
He tried to think, but his head whirled round,
And ane thing he couldna minde:
“I cam frae Fyfe,” the auld man cried,
“And I cam on the midnight winde.”
And they yerked his limbs with twine,
Till the red blude ran in his hose and shoon,
But some cried it was wine.
And they tyed him till ane stone;
And they set ane bele-fire him about,
To burn him skin and bone.
“That ever I saw the day!
And wae be to all the ill women
That lead puir men astray!
To lawless greede incline;
Let never ane auld man after this
Rin post to the deil for wine.”
And choked him bitterlye;
And the low cam up with an angry blaze,
And he singed his auld breek-nee.
For looks he coulde get ne mae;
And he thoughte of his dear little bairns at hame,
And O the auld man was wae!
With gloffe and wonderous glare,
For they saw ane thing baith large and dun,
Comin sweeping down the aire.
And it cam right tymeouslye,
For who was it but the auld man’s wife,
Just comed his death to see.
And the auld gudeman looked fain,
Then whispered ane word intil his lug,
And toved to the aire again.
I’ the midst o’ the burning lowe;
And the shackles that bound him to the ring,
They fell frae his arms like towe.
And he said it with muckle glee,
Then set his feet on the burning pile,
And away to the aire flew he.
He lukit baith feared and sad;
But when he wan to the light blue aire,
He laughed as he’d been mad.
And his feet stuck out behinde;
And the laibies of the auld man’s coat
Were wauffing in the wind.
For he thought the play sae rare;
It was like the voice of the gander blue,
When he flees through the aire.
As he bored the norlan sky;
He nodded his heade, and gave ane girn
But he never said gude-bye.
Nae maire the English saw,
But the auld man’s laughe came on the gale,
With a lang and a loud gaffaw.
Read what the drinker’s dree;
And never curse his puir auld wife,
Righte wicked altho she be.