Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volume 2

224 S;jL-MALLA 0? LUMON ;
ki-ng of harps. We placed the dead in earth. Ouf
st^ps were by Runar's bay. With the bounding boat,
afar, advanced a ridgy \Vave. Dark was the ndrr of
seas, but a beam of hght was diere, hke the ray of the
sun, in Stromlo's rolling smoke. It was the daughter i
of Suran-dronio, v/ild in brightened looks. Her eyes
v/ere wandering flames, amidst disordered locks. For-
ward is her white arm, with the spear ; her high heav-
ing breast is seen, white as foamy v/aves, thatri^e, by
turns, amidst rocks. They are beautiful, but th^y are
terrible, and mariners call the winds."
" Come, ye dvv^ellers of Loda! Carchar, pale in the
midst of clouds ! Sluthmor, that stridest in airy halls !
i Tr:u'ition has haRded down the name of this princess. The
bards c;il! tier RiinoForlo, which has no oriict »ort of title for being
^cmiiuc, but its not being of Gahc ori;4inal ; a distinction, which
the ijarda had not the art to preserve, when they feigned names for
fureij;i;ners. The Hif^hland senachies. who very often endeavoured
to supply the deficiency they thought they found in the tales of
Ossian, Iiave given us the continuation of the story c)f the daughtt r
of ^uran-dronlo. ''I'he catastroplie is so unnatural, and the circuin-
stances of it so ridicnlOutly pompous, that for the sake of the inven-
tors, I shall conceal them.
Tlie wildiy beautiful appearap.ce of Runa forlo, made a deep im-
pression on a chief, some ages ago, who was himself no contempti-
ble poet. The stery is romantic, but not incredible, if we make al-
lo%w:nce for the lively imagination of a man of genius. Our chief,
jaiUng, in a Sturm, along one of tlie islands of Orkney, saw a woman
in a l)oat, near the shore, whom lie thought, as he expresses himself.
» as beautiful as-a sudden ray *f Che sun on the dark heaving deep.'
7'he \erses of Ossian, on the attitude of Runo-fcrlo. which was so si-
milar to that of the v.uman in the boat, wrought so much on his
fancy, that he fell desperately in love. The winds, however, drove
him from the coast, and after a few days he arrived at his residenci
in Scotland. '! iiere his passion increased to such a degree, that two
of his friends, fearing the consequence, sailed to the Orkneys, to car-
ry to him tlie ohject of his desire. Upon enquiry, they soon found
the nymph, and carried her to the enamoured chief j but mark liis
surprise, when, in-tcad ' of a ray of the sun,' he saw a skinny fisber-
vnman, more than middle aged, appearing before him. Tradition
here evids the story ; bnt ;t may b-; easily supposed ILat the passici?'
"t ilie cluvJ.sooa suLitidtd.