She gave to him so long ago,
Added a sweetness to his bliss,
And ta'en the bitter from his woe.
But never yet the fairy flag
Had waved upon the castle wall;
For with his stalwart arm and sword,
His troubles he had breasted all.
"Oh, where's my little laddie gone?"
The lady left her 'broidery frame;
Through every castle window peered,
With tearful eyes, the gentle dame.
Then Macleod called his followers out,
And loud the castle trumpets blew:
"Oh, Macleod's heir is strayed awa',
And on the heather falls the dew,
"And on the heather falls the dew;
Shadows are floating o'er the sea.
Oh, where's my little laddie gone:
I pray ye bring him back to me!
They searched along the chalk-white cliffs,
Upon the dizzy hanging paths;
They sought him on their breezy tops,
Along the strips of grassy straths.
They called "Macleod" adown the hill;
They called "Macleod" adown the vale;
They hailed the shepherd with his flock,
The maiden with her milking-pail.
They searched Dunvergan castle thro';
Each dungeon in the thick stone wall
They peered within, but only found
The prisoned foemen, grim and tall.
His mother looked out o'er the sea,
To where the "Macleod's Maidens" stand,
To see, above the foam-wreaths, rise
His yellow head and waving hand.
The laddie came not, when the moon
With all the stars sailed out in sight,
And "Macleod's Tables," tops of snow,
Were cloth of silver in her light.
"Bring out, bring out the fairy flag!
I'll wave it from the topmost tower!
There'll come no direr need than this,
For Macleod's race has lost its flower!"
Macleod then waved the fairy flag;
It looked a net of golden wire;
Its streaks of gold and spots of gold
All linked and curled like tongues of fire.
There came a twang o' pearly harp,
There came a lilting loud and sweet;
And softly o'er the fairy bridge
There came the dance o' slender feet.
There danced along the fairy bridge
A spot i' the golden light apace:
The laddie at the castle gate
Stood lifting up his bonnie face.
"Oh, I ha' wandered by the burn,
And I ha' wandered by the glen;
A little leddy all in green,"
He said, "has led me home again."
Macleod close furled the fairy flag:
"Ye've served me once in blessed stead,
But sorely I'll be pressed again
Ere I will wave ye twice!" he said.
All day the chief had held the field,
Nor quailed until the sun sank low:
His followers, bleeding, round him lay,
And he was hemmed in by the foe.
Oh, life is sweet! "exclaimed Macleod;
"I love my bairn and lady dear:
I'll wave again the fairy flag —
But will it bring me succor here?"
Macleod waved high the fairy flag;
His foemen reeled back at the sight;
For in their cruel eyes there danced
Great spots and bars of golden light.
There came a twang o' pearly harp,
There came a lilting loud and sweet;
And Macleod's foemen turned and fled,
The hills all rang with flying feet.