Part III
And the bonny May of the Moril Glen
Is weeping in despair,
For she saw the hills of fair Scotland,
Could be her home nae mair.
Then there were chariots came o’er night,
As silent and as soon
As shadow of ane little cloud
In the wan light of the moon.
Some said they came out of the rock,
And some out of the sea;
And some said they were sent from Hell
To bring that fair Ladye.
The fairest flower of mortal frame
Passed from the Moril Glen;
And ne’er may such a deadly eye
Shine amongst Christian men!
In seven chariots, gilded bright,
The train went o’er the fell,
All wrapt within ane shower of hail;
Whither no man could tell.
But there was a Ship in the Firth of Forth,
The like ne’er sailed the faeme,
For no man of her country knew,
Her colours, or her name.
Her mast was made of beaten gold,
Her sails of the silken twine,
And a thousand pennons streamed behind,
And trembled o’er the brine.
As she lay mirrored in the main,
It was a comely view,
So many rainbows round her played
With every breeze that blew.
And the hailstone shroud it rattled loud,
Right over ford and fen,
And swathed the flower of the Moril Glen
From eyes of sinful men.
And the hailstone shroud it wheeled and rowed,
As wan as death unshriven,
Like dead cloth of ane Angel grim,
Or winding sheet of Heaven.
It was a fearsome sight to see
Toil through the morning grey,
And whenever it reached the comely Ship,
She set sail and away.
She set her sail before the gale,
As it began to sing,
And she heaved and rocked down the tide,
Unlike an earthly thing.
The dolphins fled out of her way
Into the creeks of Fife,
And the blackguard seals, they yowlit for dread,
And swam for death and life.
But aye the Ship, the bonny Ship
Out o’er the green wave flew,
Swift as the solan on the wing,
Or terrified sea-mew.
No billow breasted on her prow,
Nor levelled on the lee;
She seemed to sail upon the air,
And never touch the sea.
And away, and away went the bonny Ship,
Which man never more did see;
But whether she went to Heaven or Hell,
Was ne’er made known to me.
The Ettrick Shepherd. (Condensed)