Page:The Lady of the Lake - Scott (1810).djvu/392

THE

GHAIST'S WARNING.

TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH KÆMPE VISER, p. 721.

By the permission of Mr Jamieson, this ballad is added from the same curious Collection. It contains some passages of great pathos.

 

---

---

 

Svend Dyring hand rider sig op under öè,
(Varè jeg selver ung)
Der fœste hand sig saa ven en möè.
(Mig lyster udi lunden at ridè,) &c.

 

---

---

 

Child Dyring has ridden him up under öe,^[1]
(And O gin I were young!)
There wedded he him sae fair^[2] a may.
(I' the greenwood it lists me to ride.)

---

1. "Under öe."—The original expression has been preserved here and elsewhere, because no other could be found to supply its place. There is just as much meaning in it in the translation as in the original; but it is a standard Danish ballad phrase, and as such, it is hoped, will be allowed to pass.
2. "fair."—The Dan. and Swed. ven, vœn, or vennè, and the Gaël bân, in the oblique cases bhân (ván,) is the origin of the Scottish bonny, which has so much puzzled all the etymologists.