Should not the dove so white
Follow the sea-mew's flight,
Why did they leave that night
Her nest unguarded?

'Scarce had I put to sea, Bearing the maid with me,Fairest of all was she

Among the Norsemen!

When on the white sea-strand,
Waving his armèd hand,

Saw we old Hildebrand.

With twenty horsemen.

"Then launched they to the blast,
Bent like a reed each mast,
Yet we were gaining fast,
When the wind failed us;
And with a sudden flaw
Came round the gusty Skaw,
So that our foe we saw
Laugh as he hailed us.

And as to catch the gale

Round veered the flapping sail,

Death! was the helmsman's hail,
Death without quarter!

Mid-ships with iron keel

Struck we her ribs of steel;

Down her black bulk did reel

There from the flowing bowl
Deep drinks the warrior's soul,
Skoal! to the Northland! skoal!"
-Thus the tale ended.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

For Biography, see page 81.

Discussion. 1. With which stanza does the narrative begin? 2. What may the first three stanzas be called? 3. Which of these three stanzas is descriptive? 4. In which does the Viking make himself known? 5. In what stanzas is the story told? 6. With what line does the story end? 7. What relation to the poem has the last line? 8. Describe the scene suggested by the first stanza; who is speaking? 9. Describe the guest to whom the poet speaks. 10. In using the word "fearful" to describe this guest, was the poet emphasizing only the outward appearance of his guest? 11. Can you use other words equally exact and poetical for "daunt" and "haunt"? 12. Give a name to the "flashes" that are seen when the Northern skies gleam in December. 13. To what is the voice of the skeleton compared? 14. Is it an apt comparison? 15. Does the second stanza prepare us for a story of happy things? 16. What stanzas help you to see the kind of people the Vikings were, and to imagine the life they led? 17. The Viking showed his wonderful courage in going out into the “open main” in a wild hurricane; give all the other evidences of his courage found in the poem. 18. The Introduction (pages 89 and 90) gives various motives for seeking adventures; do you think the Knights and the Vikings had the same motive? 19. How does this ballad differ from a folk ballad, such as "Sir Patrick Spens"? 20. Pronounce the following: daunt; palms; alms; haunt; launched.

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THE THREE FISHERS

CHARLES KINGSLEY

Three fishers went sailing away to the West,
Away to the West as the sun went down;

Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
And the children stood watching them out of the town;

For men must work and women must weep,
And there's little to earn and many to keep,
Though the harbor bar be moaning.

Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower,

And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down;
They looked at the squall and they looked at the shower,
And the nightrack came rolling up ragged and brown;
But men must work and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden and waters deep,
And the harbor bar be moaning.

Three corpses lay out on the shining sands,

In the morning gleam as the tide went down,
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands
For those who will never come home to the town;
For men must work and women must weep,

And the sooner it's over the sooner to sleep,
And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), clergyman, lecturer, poet, and novelist, was born in Dartmoor, England. During his earlier years he lived in the beautiful Fen Country, the scenery of which made a deep impression on him. He was a friend ci Tennyson and a poet of real excellence. His ballads, "The Three Fishers" and "The Sands of Dee," are widely read and admired, and his novel Westward Ho! is a brilliant narrative of adventure. In "The Three Fishers" he shows that he has studied the fisher folk of his native country and sees with genuine sympathy their hard life and the courage that enables them to brave the perils of the sea.