76
NOBLE SISTERS.
I heard a hound, highborn sister,
Stood baying at the moon:
I rose and drove him from your wall
Lest you should wake too soon."—
Stood baying at the moon:
I rose and drove him from your wall
Lest you should wake too soon."—
"Or did you meet a pretty page
Sat swinging on the gate:
Sat whistling whistling like a bird,
Or may be slept too late:
With eaglets broidered on his cap,
And eaglets on his glove?
If you had turned his pockets out,
You had found some pledge of love."—
"I met him at this daybreak,
Scarce the east was red:
Lest the creaking gate should anger you
I packed him home to bed."—
Sat swinging on the gate:
Sat whistling whistling like a bird,
Or may be slept too late:
With eaglets broidered on his cap,
And eaglets on his glove?
If you had turned his pockets out,
You had found some pledge of love."—
"I met him at this daybreak,
Scarce the east was red:
Lest the creaking gate should anger you
I packed him home to bed."—
"Oh patience, sister. Did you see
A young man tall and strong,
Swift-footed to uphold the right
And to uproot the wrong,
Come home across the desolate sea
To woo me for his wife?
And in his heart my heart is locked,
And in his life my life."—
"I met a nameless man, sister,
Who loitered round our door:
I said: Her husband loves her much.
And yet she loves him more,"—
A young man tall and strong,
Swift-footed to uphold the right
And to uproot the wrong,
Come home across the desolate sea
To woo me for his wife?
And in his heart my heart is locked,
And in his life my life."—
"I met a nameless man, sister,
Who loitered round our door:
I said: Her husband loves her much.
And yet she loves him more,"—
