Sir Orm set his bow his knee before, He rode to the hind so near; But the hind would not from the sleuth-hounds flee, For the Knight to her was dear.
But the hounds advanced to the hind so near, That the hind was forced to fly; She changed herself to a little bird, And flew high up in the sky.
Anon down flew the little bird, Perched a linden bough upon; Sir Orm he stood there down below, And sorely did he moan.
Down flew the lovely little bird, And ’gan on the bait to feast, Which out of his bosom Sir Orm had cut, So well it pleased her taste.
And then the lovely little bird Dropped down on the yellow sand, And she became the fairest damsel, Was ever seen in the land.
The Damsel stood under the linden bough, Freed was she now from thrall; Sir Orm he stood so near thereby, They related their sorrows all.
“Many thanks to thee, Sir Orm the bold Thou’st freed me from my woe; Except beside my snow-white side Thou sleep shalt nevermoe.”
Thanks be to him, Sir Orm the bold He kept his faith so well; The Monday morn thereafter His bridal it befell.
LONDON: Printed for THOMAS J. WISE, Hampstead, N.W _Edition limited to Thirty Copies_
{ 5} This ballad is founded on a real character—a miser—who by various means acquired a considerable property, and was the first person who ever left “tocher,” that is fortune, to daughter in Man. His name was Mollie Charane, which words interpreted are “Praise the Lord.” He lived and possessed an estate on the curragh, a tract of boggy ground, formerly a forest, on the northern side of the island, between the mighty mountains of the Snefell range and the sea.
{ 13} Previously printed, with a slightly different text, and arranged in six lines instead of in three four-line stanzas, in _Lavengro_, 1851, Vol. i, p. 306.
{ 25} This Ballad should be compared with _The Cruel Step-dame_, printed in _The Serpent Knight and Other Ballads_, 1913, pp. 30–33. Also with _The Transformed Damsel_, printed in _The Return of the Dead and Other Ballads_, 1913, pp. 13–14.