Page:Posthumous poems (IA posthumousswinb00swin).pdf/44

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
 
POSTHUMOUS POEMS
They have taken that strong wizard
To bind him by the hands:
The links of airn brast off his body
Like splints of bursten birken wands.

And they have taken that keen wizard
To bind him by the hause-bane;
The links of airn brast off his body
As blossom that is burst wi' rain.

And they have taken that foul wizard
To bind him by the feet:
The links of airn brast off his body
As berries that are burst with heat,

They have putten fire upon his flesh,
For nae fire wad it shrink:
They have casten his body in the wan well-head,
For nae water wad it sink.

Up then gat the fiend Borolallie,
Bade them "Give ower and let me:
Between warld's fire and warld's water
He gat a gift of me;
Till fire come out of wan water,
There's nane shall gar him dee."

"A rede, a rede, thou foul Borolallie,
A good rede out of hand;
Shall we be wroken of Lord Soulis
By water or by land?

12