The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott ... Notes & life of the author.

TRE LADY OF THE LA1!. CANTO I
That highland halls were open still
To wildered wanderers of the hill
"Nor think you unexpected come
To yon lone isle, our desert home;
Before the heath had lost the dew,
This morn, a couch was pulled for you;
On yonder mountain's purple head
Have ptarmigan and heath.cock bled,
And our broad nets have swept the men
To furnish forth your evening cheer."
"Now,by the rood, my lovely maid,
Your courtesy has erred," he said;
"No right have I to claim, misplaced,
The welcome of expected guest.
A wanderer, here by fortune tost,
My way, my friends, my courser lost,
I ne'er before, believe me,fair,
Have ever drawn your mountain air,
Till on this lake's romantic strand,
I found a fay in fairy land."
XXIIL
"I well believe," the maid replied,
As her light skiff approached the side —
"I well believe, that ne'er before
Your foot has trod Loch Katrine's shore;
But yet, as far as yesternight,
Old Allan-bane foretold your plightA gray-haired sire, whose eye intent
Was on the visioned future bent.
He saw your steed, a dappled gray,
Lie dead beneath the birchen way;
Painted exact your form and mien,
Your hunting suit of Lincoln green,
That tassell'd horn so gaily gilt,
That falchion's crooked blade and hilt,
That cap with heron's plumage trim,
And yon two hounds so dark and grim.
He bade that all should ready be,
To grace a guest of fair degree;F
But light I held his prophecy,
And deemed it was my father's horn,
Whose echoes o'er the lake were borne."
XXIV.
The stranger smiled:-" Since to your home,
A destined errant knight I come,