Minstrelsy of the Scottish border - National Library of Scotland

THE SCOTTISH BORDER. 205
to the earth, and refuses to let him arise till he swear,
by the law and lead he lives upon, " to do him no harm."
This done, he permits him to arise, and marvels at his
strange appearance :
" He was formed like a freike (man) all his four quarters
" And then his chin and his face haired so thick,
• With haire growing so grime, fearful to see."
He answers briefly to Waldhave's enquiry concerning
his name and nature, that he " drees his weird," i. e.
does penance, in that wood ; and, having hinted that
questions as to his own state are offensive, he pours forth
an obscure rhapsody concerning futurity, and concludes,
" Go musing upon Merlin if thou wilt
" For 1 mean no more, man, at this time."
This is exactly similar to the meeting betwixt Merlin
and Kentigern in Fordun. These prophecies of Merlin
seem to have been in request in the minority of James
V. ; for, among the amusements with which Sir David
Lindsay diverted that prince during his infancy, are,
The prophecies of Rymer, Bede, and Merlin.
Sir David Lindsay's E/istle to the King.
And we find, in Waldhave, at least one allusion to the
very ancient prophecy, addressed to the Countess of
Dunbar
:
This is a true token that Thomas of tells,
When a ladde with a ladyc shall go over the lields.
;
;