The Mermaid's Prophecy

When that perceived proud Ellenlile,
Near Rosmer King she took her stand:
“Now wilt thou give the stranger lad
Leave to return to his own land?”

“And if the swain for home doth long,
Then I will take him to the shore;
And I will give him silver and gold,
And in a coffer it will store.

And so he took the ruddy gold,
And in a coffer it he laid;
Unknown to him proud Ellenlile
So sly therein herself convey’d.

He takes the man beneath his arm,
The coffer on his back he throws;
Then away, away beneath the salt spray
Striding the Giant Rosmer goes.

“Now have I brought thee to the land,
And moon and sun thou canst behold;
And now to use as thou shalt chuse
I give this coffer filled with gold.”

“I thank thee, Rosmer, honest man,
Thou’st brought me out of the ocean wild;
And now I’ll tell thee a piece of news,
The proud Dame Ellen is with child.”

Then ran the tears down Rosmer’s cheeks,
As falls the dew on hill and plain:
“If thou hadst not my troth and oath
Here as thou standest thee I’d brain.”

Rosmer hied to the hill so fast,
As hind before the hart doth run;
And when he came within the hill
Behold proud Ellenlile was gone.

But Ellenlile took Roland’s hand,
’Midst sport and jest away they hied;
To young Roland she told her tale,
And Roland served her as a guide.

When Rosmer saw his love was gone,
So full was he of grief and dool,
He turned him into a huge grey rock,
And there he standeth like a fool.

Printed for THOMAS J. WISE, Hampstead, N.W.
Edition limited to Thirty copies.
by Houghton Mifflin & Co., for Clement Shorter.
***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERMAID'S PROPHECY***