EOYAL, OE FLOWERING FEEN. 



Osmunda regalis. LINNAEUS. 



"At Loch Tyne dwelt the waterman, old Osmund. 

 Fairest among maidens was the daughter of Osmund 

 the waterman. Her light-brown hair and glowing 

 cheek told of her Saxon origin, and her light steps 

 bounded over the green turf like a young fawn in his 

 native glades. Often, in the stillness of a summer's 

 even, did the mother and her fair-haired child sit beside 

 the lake, to watch the dripping and the flashing of the 

 father's oars as he skimmed right merrily towards 

 them over the deep-blue waters. Sounds, as of hasty 

 steps, were heard one day, and presently a company of 

 fugitives told with breathless haste that the cruel 

 Danes were making way towards the ferry. Osmund 

 heard them with fear. Suddenly the shouts of furious 

 men came remotely on the ear. The fugitives rushed 

 on. Osmund stood for a moment ; then snatching up 

 his oars he rowed his trembling wife and fair child to a 

 small island covered with the great Osmund Eoyal, and 

 helping them to land, bade them to lie down beneath 

 the tall Ferns. Scarcely had the ferryman returned to 



