Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

TEMORA. 429
^;irhose steps come forth on the seas, when he be.
holds thera peaceful round, and all the winds are
laid. But soon he awakes the waves, and rolls them
iarge to some echoing shore.
On tlie rushy bank of a stream slept the daughter
of Inis-huna. The helmet had fallen from her head.
Her dreams were in the lands of her fathers. There
morning is on the field. Grey streams leap down
from the rocks. The breezes, in shadowy waves, tly
over the rushy fields. There is the sound that pre-
pares for the chase. There the moving of warriors
from the hall. But tall above the rest is seen the
hero of streamy Atha. lie bends his eye of love on
Sul-malla, from his stately steps. She turns, with
pride, her face away, and careless bends the bow.
Such were the dreams of the maid, when Cath-
roor of Atha came. He saw her fair face before
him, in the midst of herwandering locks. He knew
the maid of Lumon. What should Cathmor do ?
His sighs arise. His tears come down. But straight
he turns away. " This is no time, king of Atha,
to awake thy secret soul. The battle is rolled be-
fore thee, like a troubled stream."
He struck that warning boss,* wherein dwelt the
voice of war. Erin rose around him, like the sound
of eagle-wing. Sul-malla started from sleep, in her
disordered locks. She seized the helmet from earth.
She trembled in her place. " Why should they know
in Erin of the daughter of Inis-huna ?" She remem-
bered the race of kings. The pride of lier soul arose !
Her steps are behind a rock, by the blue-winding
Stream of a vale; where dwelt the dark-brown hind
ere yet the war arose. Thither came the voice of
• In order to understand this passage, it is neces-
sary to look to the description of Cathmor's shield
in the seventh book. This shield had seven prin-
cipal bosses, the sound of each of which, when
struck with a spear, conveyed a particular order
from the king to his tribes. The sound of one of
tlieni, as here, was the signal for tlie army to
assemble.