FAUCONSHAWE 



(a ballad) 



To fetch clear water out of the spring 



The little maid Margaret ran, 

 From the stream to the castle's western wing 



It was but a bowshot span ; 

 On the sedgy brink where the osiers cling 



Lay a dead man, pallid and wan. 



The lady Mabel rose from her bed, 



And walked in the castle hall, 

 Where the porch through the western turret 

 led, 

 She met with her handm.aid small ! 

 '' What aileth thee, Margaret ? " the lady 

 said, 

 '' Hast let thy pitcher fall ? 



** Say, what hast thou seen by the streamlet 

 side, 



A nymph or a water sprite ? 

 That thou comest with eyes so wild and wide, 



And with cheeks so ghostly white ? " 



'* Nor nymph nor sprite," the maiden cried, 



'* But the corpse of a slaughtered knight." 



60 



