Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

CO MALA. 31
behold Fingal in the midst of his host ; bright as the
coming forth of the morning, in the cloud of an early
shower.
HlDALLAN.*
Dwell, thou mist of gloomy Crona, dwell on the path
of the king ! Hide his steps from mine eyes, let me
remember my friend no more. The bands of battle are
scattered, no crowding tread is round the noise of his
steel. O Carun ! roll thy streams of blood, the chief of
the people is low.
Comala.
Who fell on Carun's sounding banks, son of the cloudy
night? Was he white as the snow of Ardven ?
Blooming as the bow of the shower? Was his hair like
the mist of the hill, soft and curling in the day of the
sun? Was he like the thunder of heaven in battle?
Fleet as the roe of the desert ?
HlDALLAN.
O that I might behold his love, fair-leaning from her
rock ! Her red eye dim in tears, her blushing cheek half
* Hidallan was sent by Fingal to give notice to Comala of his
return; he, to revenge himself on her for slighting his love
some time before, told her that the king was killed in battle.
He even pretended that he carried his body from the field to be
buried in her presence ; and this circumstance makes it
probable that the poem was presented of old.