The monastery; The abbot.

THE MONASTERY. 59
keep her head turned up the river, she drifted downward, lost the ford and
her footing at once, and began to swim with her head down the stream.
And what was sufficiently strange, at the same moment, notwithstanding
the extreme peril, the damsel began to sing, thereby increasing, if anything
could increase, the bodily fear of the worthy Sacristan.
Merrily swim we, the moon shies bright, Merrily swim we, the moon shines bright
Merrily swim we, the moon shines bright, Merrily swim we, the moon shines bright,
Both current ard ripple are dancing in light. Downward we drift through shadow and light,
We have roused the night raven, I heard him croak, Under von rock the eddies sleep,
As we plashed along beneath the oak Calm and silent, dark and deep,'That flings its broad branches so far and so wide, The Kelpy has risen from the fathomless pool,
Their shadows are dancing in midst of the tide. He has lighted his candle of death and of dool.' Who wakens my nestlings." tht raven he said, Look, Father, look, and you'll laugh to see
" My beak shall ere morn in his blood be red. How he gapes and glares with his eyes on thee.
For a blue swoln corpse is a dainty meal,
And 1'11 have niy share with the pike and the eel." Iv.
II. Good luck to your fishing, whom watch ye to-night T
Merrily swim we. the moon slines bright, A man of mean, or a man of might?
There's a golden gleam on the distant height; Is it layman or priest that must float in your cove,
There's a silver sfhower on the alders dank, Or lover who crosses to visit his love?
And the drooping willows that wave on the bank. Hark! heard ye the Kelpy reply, as we pass'd.I see the abbey, both turret and tower, "God's blessing on the warder, he lock'd the bridge
It is all astir for the vesper hour; fast!
The monks for the chapel are leaving each cell. All that cone to my cove are sunk,
But where's Father Philip, should toll the bell? Priest or laynman, lover or monk."
How long the damsel might have continued to sing, or where the terrified
monk's journey might have'ended, is uncertain. As she sung thelast stanza,
they arrived at, or rather in, a broad tranquil sheet of water, caused by a
strong wear or damhead, running across the river, which dashed in a broad
cataract over the barrier. The mule, whether from choice, or influenced by
the suction of the current, made towards the cut intended to supply the
convent mills, and entered it half swimming half wading, and pitching the
unlucky monk to and fro in the saddle at a fearful rate.
As his person flew hither and thither, his garment became loose, and in
an effort to retain it, his hand lighted on the volume of the Lady of Avenel
which was in his bosom. No sooner had he grasped it, than his companion
pitched him out of the saddle into the stream, where, still keeping her
hand on his collar, she gave him two or three good souses in the watery
fluid, so as to ensure that every other part of him had its share of wetting,
and then quitted her hold when he was so near the side that by a slight
effort (of a great one he was incapable) he might scramble on shore. This
accordingly he accomplished, and turning his eyes to see what had become
of his extraordinary companion, she was nowhere to be seen; but still he
heard, as if from the surface of the river, and mixing with the noise of the
water breaking over the damhead, a fragment of her wild song, which
seemed to run thus:Landed-landed! the black book hath won,
Else had you seen Berwick with morning sun!
Sain ye, and save ye, and blithe mot ye be,
For seldom they land that go swimming with me.
The ecstasy of the monk's terror could be endured no longer; his head
grew dizzy, and, after staggering a few steps onward and running himself
against a wall, he sunk down in a state of insensibility.