NOTES TO CANTO FOURTH.
385
There are yet traces of a belief in this worst and most malicious order of Fairies among the Border Wilds. Dr Leyden has introduced such a dwarf into his ballad entitled the Cout of Keeldar, and has not forgot his characteristic detestation of the chace.
"The third blast that young Keeldar blew,
Still stood the limber fern,
And a wee man, of swarthy hue,
Upstarted by a cairn.
Still stood the limber fern,
And a wee man, of swarthy hue,
Upstarted by a cairn.
"His russet weeds were brown as heath,
That clothes the upland fell;
And the hair of his head was frizzly red
As the purple heather-bell.
That clothes the upland fell;
And the hair of his head was frizzly red
As the purple heather-bell.
"An urchin, clad in prickles red,
Clung cow'ring to his arm;
The hounds they howl'd, and backward fled,
As struck by fairy charm.
Clung cow'ring to his arm;
The hounds they howl'd, and backward fled,
As struck by fairy charm.
"Why rises high the stag-hound's cry,
Where stag bound ne'er should be?
Why wakes that horn the silent morn,
Without the leave of me?
Where stag bound ne'er should be?
Why wakes that horn the silent morn,
Without the leave of me?
"Brown dwarf, that o'er the muirland strays,
Thy name to Keeldar tell!"—
"The Brown Man of the Muirs, who stays
Beneath the heather-bell.
Thy name to Keeldar tell!"—
"The Brown Man of the Muirs, who stays
Beneath the heather-bell.
"'Tis sweet beneath the heather-bell
To live in autumn brown;
And sweet to hear the lav rocks well,
Far, far from tower and town.
To live in autumn brown;
And sweet to hear the lav rocks well,
Far, far from tower and town.
