THE ST. K1LDA MAWS SONG. 27 



(represented by our Alexandrines in each stanza) given in a shrill 

 falsetto that was somewhat disagreeable to the ear, although 

 abundantly appropriate, probably, in the circumstances in which 

 the song was composed, and when sung amid all the surroundings 

 of the scene depicted. 



THE ST. KILDA MAID'S SONG. 



Over the rocks, steadily, steadily ; 

 Down to the clefts with a shout and a shove, O ; 



Warily tend the rope, shifting it readily, 

 Eagerly, actively, watch from above, O. 

 Brave, O brave, my lover true, he's worth a maiden s love : 

 (And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above/) 



Sweet 'tis to sleep on a well feathered pillow, 

 Sweet from the embers the fulmar's red egg, O ; 



Bounteous our store from the rock and the billow ; 



Fish and birds in good store, we need never to beg, O ; 



Brave, O brave, my lover true, he's worth a maiden's love : 



(And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above/) 



Hark to the fulmar and guillemot screaming : 

 Hark to the kittiwake, puffin, and gull, O : 



See the white wings of solan goose gleaming ; 

 Steadily, men ! on the rope gently pull, O. 

 Brave, O brave, my lover true, he's worth a maiden's love : 

 (And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above/) 



Deftly my love can hook ling and conger, 

 The grey-fish and hake, with the net and the creel, ; 



Far from our island be plague and be hunger ; 

 And sweet our last sleep in the quiet of the Kiel, O. 

 Brave, O brave, my lover true, he's worth a maiden's love : 

 (A nd the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above !) 



Pull on the rope, men, pull it up steadily : 

 ( There's a storm on the deep, see the scart claps his wings, 0) ; 



Cunningly guide the rope, shifting it readily ; 

 Welcome my true love, and all that he brings, O ! 

 Now God be praised, my lover's safe, he's worth a maiden's love : 

 (And the sea below is still as deep as the sky is high above /) 



Our song needs but little elucidation. The reader who knows that 

 the wealth of the St. Kildians mainly consists of the feathers and 



