The Haunted Spring
[It is said, Fays have the power to assume various shapes for the purpose of luring mortals into Fairyland; hunters seem to have been particularly the objects of the lady fairies’ fancies.]
Gaily through the mountain glen
The hunter’s horn did ring,
As the milk-white doe
Escaped his bow,
Down by the haunted spring.
In vain his silver horn he wound,—
’Twas echo answered back;
For neither groom nor baying hound
Were on the hunter’s track
In vain he sought the milk-white doe
That made him stray, and ’scaped his bow;
For, save himself, no living thing
Was by the silent haunted spring.
The purple heath-bells, blooming fair,
Their fragrance round did fling,
As the hunter lay
At close of day,
Down by the haunted spring.
A lady fair, in robe of white,
To greet the hunter came;
She kissed a cup with jewels bright,
And pledged him by his name;
“Oh, lady fair,” the hunter cried,
“Be thou my love, my blooming bride,
A bride that well may grace a king!
Fair lady of the haunted spring.”
In the fountain clear she stoop’d,
And forth she drew a ring;
And that loved Knight
His faith did plight
Down by the haunted spring.
But since that day his chase did stray,
The hunter ne’er was seen,
And legends tell, he now doth dwell
Within the hills so green;4
But still the milk-white doe appears,
And wakes the peasants’ evening fears,
While distant bugles faintly ring
Around the lonely haunted spring.
Samuel Lover.
Notes
4 Fays and fairies are supposed to have their dwelling-places within old green hills.