J. F. Campbell Collection > Transactions of the Ossianic Society > Volume 4

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We turned our backs to the land
And our faces directly due-west,
The smooth sea ebbed before us,
And filled in billows after us.
"We saw wonders in our travels,
Cities, courts and castles,
Lime-white mansions and fortresses.
Brilliant summer-houses and palaces.
We saw also, by our sides
A hornless fawn leaping nimbly.
And a red eared white dog.
Urging it boldly in the chase.
We beheld also, without fiction,
A young maid on a brown steed,
A golden apple in her right hand,
And she going on the top of the waves.
AYe saw after her,
A young rider on a white steed.
Under a purple, crimson mantle of satin,
And a gold- headed sword in his right hand.
" Who are yon two whom I see,
gentle princess, tell me the meaning,
That woman of most beautiful countenance,
And the comely rider of the white steed."
" Heed not what thou wilt see,
! gentle Oisin, nor what thou hast yet seen.
There is in them but nothing,
Till we reach the land of the ' King of Youth.' "