Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

O I T H O N A 1 37
blood of my people was on his sword. They who
defended Oithona fell by the gloomy chief! What
could I do? My arm was weak. I could not lift the
spear. He took me in my grief; amidst my tears he
raised the sail. He feared the returning Lathmon, the
brother of unhappy Oithona 1 But behold he comes with
his people I the dark wave is divided before him !
Whither wilt thou turn thy steps, son of Morni? Many
are the warriors of thy Toe ! "
" My steps never turned from battle," Gaul said, and
unsheathed his sword. "Shall I then begin to fear,
Oithona, when thy foes are near? Go to thy cave, my
love, till our battle cease on the field. Son of Leth,
bring the bows of our fathers ! the sounding quiver of
Morni ! Let our three warriors bend the yew. Our-
selves will lift the spear. They are an host on the
rock ! our souls are strong in war ! "
Oithona went to the cave. A troubled joy rose on
her mind, hke the red path of lightning on a stormy
cloud I Her soul was resolved ; the tear was dried
from her wildly-looking eye. Dunrommath slowly ap-
proached. He saw the son of Morni. Contempt con-
tracted his face, a smile is on his dark-brown cheek ;
his red eye rolled, half-concealed, beneath his shaggy
brows 1
"Whence are the sons of the sea?" begun the
gloomy chief. " Have the winds driven you on the
rocks of Tromathon? Or come you in search of the
white-handed maid ? The sons of the unhappy, ye
feeble men, come to the hand of Dunrommath 1 His
eyes spare not the weak ; he delights in the blood
of strangers. Oithona is a beam of light, and the chief
of Cuthal enjoys it in secret ; wouldst thou come on its
loveliness, like a cloud, son of the feeble hand? Thou
mayest come, but shalt thou return to the halls of thy
fathers?" "Dost thou not know me," said Gaul,
" red-haired chief of Cuthal ? Thy feet were swift on the