Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 2

BUAX FIllST. 15
s^hook amid squally winds. Three stones, with
heads of moss, are there ; a stream, with foam-
ing course : and dreadful, rolled around them,
is the dark-red cloud of Loda. High from its
top looked forward a ghost, half-formed of the
shadowy smoke. He poured his voice, at times,
amidst the roaring stream. Near, bending be-
neath a blasted tree, two heroes received his
words : Swaran of lakes, and Starno, foe of
strangers. On their dun shields they darkly
leaned : their spears are forward through night.
Shrill sounds the blast of darkness, in Starno's
floating beard.
They heard the tread of Fingal. The war-
riors rose in arms. " Swaran, lay that wanderer
low,"' said Starno, in his pride. " Take the
shield of thy father. It is a rock in war." —
Swaran threw his gleaming spear. It stood fix-
ed in Loda's tree. Then came the foes forward,
with swords. They mixed their rattling steel.
Through the thongs of Swaran's shield rushed
the poems of Ossian, that there can be no doubt, that he
followed the real manners of both nations in his own
time. At the close of the speech of Fingal, there is a
great part of the original lost.