The Lady of the Lake Chapter 35: Part 35

winter on nuts and apples, of which he had great store in the woods. Finally, he invited his new acquaintance to accompany him home and partake his hospitality, an offer which the youth was on the point of accepting, and was just going to spring across the brook (which if he had done, says Elizabeth, the dwarf would certainly have torn him in pieces), when his foot was arrested by the voice of his companion, who thought he had tarried long, and on looking round again, "the wee brown man was fled." The story adds that he was imprudent enough to slight the admonition, and to sport over the moors on his way homewards, but soon after his return he fell into a lingering disorder, and died within the year'" (Scott). 302. Our moonlight circle's. The MS. has "Our fairy ringlet's." 306. The fairies' fatal green. "As the Daoine Shi', or Men of Peace, wore green habits, they were supposed to take offence when any mortals ventured to assume their favorite color. Indeed, from some reason, which has been, perhaps originally a general superstition, green is held in Scotland to be unlucky to particular tribes and counties. The Caithness men, who hold this belief, allege as a reason that their bands wore that color when they were cut off at the battle of Flodden; and for the same reason they avoid crossing the Ord on a Monday, being the day of the week on which their ill-omened array set forth. Green is also disliked by those of the name of Ogilvy; but more especially it is held fatal to the whole clan of Grahame. It is remembered of an aged gentleman of that name that when his horse fell in a fox-chase, he accounted for it at once by observing that the whipcord attached to his lash was of this unlucky color" (Scott). 308. Wert christened man. Scott says: "The Elves were supposed greatly to envy the privileges acquired by Christian initiation, and they gave to those mortals who had fallen into their power a certain precedence, founded upon this advantageous distinction. Tamlane, in the old ballad, describes his own rank in the fairy procession: 'For I ride on a milk-white steed, And aye nearest the town; Because I was a christen'd knight, They give me that renown.'" 312. The curse of the sleepless eye. Cf. Macbeth, i. 3. 19: "Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his pent-house lid," etc. 313. Part. Depart. See on ii. 94 above. 322. Grisly. See on i. 704 above. 330. Kindly. Kindred, natural. See Wb., and cf. Shakespeare, Much Ado, iv. 1. 75: "that fatherly and kindly power That you have in her," etc. 345. All is glistening show. "No fact respecting Fairy-land seems to be better ascertained than the fantastic and illusory nature of their apparent pleasure and splendour. It has been already noticed in the former quotations from Dr. Grahame's entertaining volume, and may be confirmed by the following Highland tradition:--'A woman, whose new-born child had been conveyed by them into their secret abodes, was also carried thither herself, to remain, however, only until she should suckle her infant. She one day, during this period, observed the Shi'ichs busily employed in mixing various ingredients in a boiling caldron, and as soon as the composition was prepared, she remarked that they all carefully anointed their eyes with it, laying the remainder aside for future use. In a moment when they were all absent, she also attempted to anoint her eyes with the precious drug, but had time to apply it to one eye only, when the Daoine Shi' returned. But with that eye she was henceforth enabled to see everything as it really passed in their secret abodes; she saw every object, not as she hitherto had done, in deceptive splendour and elegance, but in its genuine colours and form. The gaudy ornaments of the apartment were reduced to the walls of a gloomy cavern. Soon after, having discharged her office, she was dismissed to her own home. Still, however, she retained the faculty of seeing, with her medicated eye, everything that was done, anywhere in her presence, by the deceptive art of the order. One day, amidst a throng of people, she chanced to observe the Shi'ich, or man of peace, in whose possession she had left her child, though to every other eye invisible. Prompted by maternal affection, she inadvertently accosted him, and began to inquire after the welfare of her child. The man of peace, astonished at being thus recognized by one of mortal race, demanded how she had been enabled to discover him. Awed by the terrible frown of his countenance, she acknowledged what she had done. He spat in her eye, and extinguished it for ever.' "It is very remarkable that this story, translated by Dr. Grahame from popular Gaelic tradition, is to be found in the Otia Imperialia of Gervase of Tilbury. [FN #10] A work of great interest might be compiled upon the original of popular fiction, and the transmission of similar tales from age to age, and from country to country. The mythology of one period would then appear to pass into the romance of the next century, and that into the nursery tale of the subsequent ages. Such an investigation, while it went greatly to diminish our ideas of the richness of human invention, would also show that these fictions, however wild and childish, possess such charms for the populace as enable them to penetrate into countries unconnected by manners and language, and having no apparent intercourse to afford the means of transmission. It would carry me far beyond my bounds to produce instances of fable among nations who never borrowed from each other any thing intrinsically worth learning. Indeed the wide diffusion of popular factions may be compared to the facility with which straws and feathers are dispersed abroad by the wind, while valuable metals cannot be transported without trouble and labour. There lives, I believe, only one gentleman whose unlimited acquaintance with this subject might enable him to do it justice,--I mean my friend Mr. Francis Douce, of the British Museum, whose usual kindness will, I hope, pardon my mentioning his name while on a subject so closely connected with his extensive and curious researches" (Scott). 355. Snatched away, etc. "The subjects of Fairy-land were recruited from the regions of humanity by a sort of crimping system, which extended to adults as well as to infants. Many of those who were in this world supposed to have discharged the debt of nature, had only become denizens of the 'Londe of Faery'" (Scott). 357. But wist I, etc. But if I knew, etc. Wist is the past tense of wit (Matzner). See on i. 596 above. 371. Dunfermline. A town in Fifeshire, 17 miles northwest of Edinburgh. It was long the residence of the Scottish kings, and the old abbey, which succeeded Iona as the place of royal sepulture, has been called "the Westminster of Scotland." Robert Bruce was the last sovereign buried here. 374. Steepy. Cf. iii. 304 above. 376. Lincoln green. See on i. 464 above. 386. Morning-tide. Cf. iii. 478 above. 387. Bourne. Bound, limit. Cf. the quotation from Milton in note on iii. 344 above. 392. Scathe. Harm, mischief. Spenser uses the word often; as in F. Q. i. 12, 34: "To worke new woe and improvided scath," etc. Cf. Shakespeare, K. John, ii. 1. 75: "To do offence and scathe in Christendom;" Rich. III. i. 3. 317: "To pray for them that have done scathe to us," etc. 393. Kern. See on 73 above. 395. Conjure. In prose we should have to write "conjure him." 403. Yet life I hold, etc. Cf. Julius Caesar, i. 2. 84: "If it be aught toward the general good, Set honor in one eye and death i' the other, And I will look on both indifferently; For let the gods so speed me as I love The name of honor more than I fear death." 411. Near Bochastle. The MS. has "By Cambusmore." See on i. 103 and 106 above. 413. Bower. Lodging, dwelling. See on i. 217 above. 415. Art. Affectation. 417. Before. That is, at his visit to the Isle. Cf. ii. 96 fol. above. 418. Was idly soothed, etc. The MS. has "Was idly fond thy praise to hear." 421. Atone. Atone for. Shakespeare uses the verb transitively several times, but in the sense of reconcile; as in Rich. II. i. 1. 202: "Since we cannot atone you," etc. Cf. v. 735 below. 433. If yet he is. If he is still living. 437. Train. Lure; as in Macbeth, iv. 3. 118: "Devilish Macbeth By many of these trains hath sought to win me Into his power." Cf. the use of the verb (= allure, entice); as in C. of E. iii. 2. 45: "O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note;" Scott's Lay, iii. 146: "He thought to train him to the wood," etc. James was much given to gallantry, and many of his travels in disguise were on adventures of this kind. See on i. 409 above and vi. 740 below. 446. As death, etc. As if death, etc. See on ii. 56 above, and cf. 459 below. 464. This ring. The MS. has "This ring of gold the monarch gave." 471. Lordship. Landed estates. 473. Reck of. Care for; poetical. 474. Ellen, thy hand. The MS. has "Permit this hand;" and below: "'Seek thou the King, and on thy knee Put forth thy suit, whate'er it be, As ransom of his pledge to me; My name and this shall make thy way.' He put the little signet on," etc. 492. He stammered, etc. The MS. reads: "He stammered forth confused reply: 'Saxon, | I shouted but to scare 'Sir Knight, | Yon raven from his dainty fare.'" 500. Fared. Went; the original sense of the word. Cf. farewell (which was at first a friendly wish for "the parting guest"), wayfarer, thoroughfare, etc. 506. In tattered weeds, etc. The MS. has "Wrapped in a tattered mantle gray." Weeds is used in the old sense of garments. Cf. Shakespeare, M. N. D. ii. 1. 256: "Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in;" Id. ii. 2. 71: "Weeds of Athens he doth wear;" Milton L'Allegro, 120: "In weeds of peace," etc. See also v. 465 below. 523. In better time. That is, in better times or days; not in the musical sense. 524. Chime. Accord, sing; a poetical use of the word. Cf. vi. 592 below. 531. Allan. "The Allan and Devan are two beautiful streams--the latter celebrated in the poetry of Burns--which descend from the hills of Perthshire into the great carse, or plain,