Fairies Lair (Saxon Knight)

Walking slowly in north land old
With blackwood stick and book of gold,
I pondered o'er the mountains tall
And grassy knolls, and mists of Fall.

Within that mound an ancient Celt
Or Dane, who's warring arm was felt,
Now a nine-foot skeleton high,
Might in a death-cold splendour lie.

Over there in the wetland dark
Dwell the Bogmen in cen'tries' murk;
Shrunken leather corpses dire
Who may have died in pagan fire.

Teut hills I see around and round
Where Thoth staked his own holy ground.
Green the grass, green the hills,
This is where the fairy king kills.

Draped in anything but green walked I
Round to a knoll to read. Thought I
Heard a far bagpipes' mournful drone,
Far echo in this crypt alone.

Bogles and banshees haunt my mind;
In my book some solace I find.
Paced I around the hill about
Left six times, then the moon came out.

Three more times around I went,
Then sat down 'gainst the mound y-spent.
Back I fell through a door not shown,
Back I fell with a frightful moan.

I expected to fall in to meet
A skeleton armed to the feet;
Sword by its side, skull at the knee,
Roman coins where once it did see;

Pott'ry or a Danish chess set,
Or corpses of Roman descent.
Nought of this did I find, not one,
For I felt a hand, my wits were gone.

A hand came and pulled my shoulder,
My body was stiff and still colder.
Fear overwhelmed, and astonishment,
In a green cave of warm merriment.

Fairies and fairies and fairies yet more,
Fairies and fairies to the count of fourscore.
E'en the women were prettier than ours,
Bright beauty I could gaze on for hours.

Tables and chairs and instruments gold;
Everyone was dancing true and as bold.
On the tables were pastries so fine,
Pastries, and beer, and excellent wine.

Music played, that music old,
Musick great antiquity shewed.
The fairy musicians played on fire
On the flute, rebec, and the lyre.

Before the bow was the rebec pluckt,
Pluckt and pluckt and pluckt so oft.
The rebec, once this island's dear,
Now only played in Spain I fear.

"Nought can ye do but sit and see,
Else ye thy earthly life wilt flee;
Observant and patient must ye be,
Else you befriend me for eternity."

A tune was struck, a mournful one,
The tune was from the Crusades in tone.
Spright plucked the rebec at her side;
The melody was of Vogelweide.

THE FIRST FAIRY MINSTREL'S SONG
(The Saxon Knight)

My fair behold, behold my fair,
A mirror between us told,
A great knight shall be there
Seventy warriors bold.

A boy he was at the time
When the prophecy was rung;
Now a man ent'ring his prime,
He to many women sung.

A knight he was, who had not shown
Much to do with war.
He was a knight whose heart was blown
As the rose to flow'r.

The elders all did call him Girl,
'Cuz all his time in love he spent,
"He should rather his mace to whirl,
And let his love up pent."

But love he did as oft as 'fore,
And all the elders shook their heads,
"He will never win at war
And we'll be killed in our beds!"

Now, at this time the Danes invaded --
Swarms and swarms -- they infested.
The elders they our knight upbraided,
But still he to them protested.

Instead of fighting, he went hawking
To show off afore the girls;
With pretty lines he is talking,
Whilst his hawk up high unfurls.

The Danes all the churches burnt;
Inside the clergy treasure hid;
Church tower is the place, Danes learnt,
To kill a score at one bid.

"Guereaux!" the partridge rose on high,
All dogs running and hawk floating by,
Side by side the hawk and canine
Chase the partridge to easy confine.

Rape, pillage, burn and kill, the Dane
Of giant height continued amain.
Rape, pillage, bite and kill, the hawk
And dogs return as victor'ous stock.

A message sounds in ear of knight,
That his fam'ly hath been y-slayn;
Wondrous how this worked the wight
Whose eyes now were seen aflame!

Misguided youth, he lost his all;
He spent his time in vain, in vain--
Tis vain to sport in love-tale tall;
May he rue it in his heart profane!

The women now were flung aside,
Onto his horse he himself heaved.
For his armour home he did ride,
But thought likely it had been thieved.

Without armour, what could he please?
He bowed himself upon his knees.
"Lord," said he, "Who raised Lazarus
And who of England gave us,

Forgive me my sins of lusting,
And help me be of You trusting.
Today grant me as Samson old
The strength of seven men tenfold

To proclaim You as Sovereign here,
And to serve Your name every year,
For Jesu's sake who on rood bled,
And from whom Death himself had fled."

"Amen!" he then aloud did cry
And bethought him how best to fight
Against the Danes who were to fly
Though they in the best arms bedight.

Then the thought was brought to mind,
To cut a tree branch thick to use;
So he went for a strong tree to find,
And broke a branch the Danes to confuse.

He saw some men who wond'ring gazed,
And said, "What ye have seen me do,
Make haste: do the same unamazed!"
So they began branches to hew.

And gathered together : a band
Of an hundred men stood to fight.
Some were disguised as trees at hand
Who would play a role of might.

The knight found the Danes, and stood lone,
Defying them into battle.
The Danes stood dumb and like to stone;
Their eyes looked as grazing cattle.

A Danish giant now appeared,
One of whom all till now had dread;
But the knight stood tall, unaffeared,
And bethought how to make him dead.

The giant threw a spear so long,
Thrice the height of the knight so tall;
The spear landed at his feet, along
The ground : it was a better decor in hall.

Aloft he held an axe so huge,
The head was wonderful to see;
It's said it spanned the wide deluge
And he hopped across smoothly.

The two warriors met fierce and fell,
The knight his tree wielding as a sword;
Each axe-blow was blocked a-well
With the trunk, to anger of the Dane lord.

Nary a scratch did the tree show,
Whilst the giant hacked mad away;
The knight knocked him over with the bough,
And killed his first man on that red day.

Meanwhile the Danes fell to formation,
Interlocking their shields one-two;
The knight's men of information
Placed fifty men to see, and blew.

Horn sounded, and the knight's men shot
Fifty arrows fifty times twice.
The Danes advanced slowly and thought
Their numbers would more than suffice.

Five-thousand to fifty they were,
While the knight's remainder were hid;
The battle ensued hot and as sure,
As the knight slew firm on the grid.

The Saxons all their branches did hold,
Just as the knight against the giant;
The Danes who were fighting so bold
Had courage much less reliant.

The knight began to throw boulders,
Rocks as wide as twelve men round;
First he heaved them on his shoulders,
Then flung them on the Danes to ground.

Fifty men were strange to see,
Fighting a thousand times five;
But while the battle was in hurry
The forest grew thick and came alive.

All this time the forest was growing,
As Saxon heard his Land's call;
More men came, the cause knowing,
And branched themselves into woodland tall.

Giant's axe was picked up by the knight,
Who used it to kill fourty-score;
An hundred slayn with each swing of might,
Yet there were still thousands more.

Moving slowly behind the hill,
The forest moved to its favour;
The Danes had broke ranks in the kill;
The forest offed its green cover.

A thousand Saxon ran and roared
Some with branches upon his hair;
The Danes broken, surprised and bored:
Three-thousand died while they cursed the air.

Now the fighting was complete,
Nary a single Viking breathed.
The giant's axe was kept a feat
In the knight's hall enwreathed.

All the men took up their trees
And laid them on their shoulders;
They walked home to their several leas,
The victorious Saxon soldiers.

To the Father throned in heaven,
To the Saviour Christ his Son,
To the Spirit praise be given,
Everlasting Three in One:
Praise for all eternity!
AMEN AMEN

Aye in triumph the song had died
Resonating far and wide.
The fairies clapped their wings and hands
And then cast lots among the bands

To see who a song would sing next.
A heavy fairy was now vext,
And blushed in front of the large crowd;
Natheless, he began to sing loud!

THE SECOND FAIRY MINSTREL'S SONG
(The Dragon of St. Kilda)

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