Page:Posthumous poems (IA posthumousswinb00swin).pdf/44

They have taken that strong wizard
 To bind him by the hands:
The links of airn brast off his body
 Like splints of bursten birken wands.

And they have taken that keen wizard
 To bind him by the hause-bane;
The links of airn brast off his body
 As blossom that is burst wi' rain.

And they have taken that foul wizard
 To bind him by the feet:
The links of airn brast off his body
 As berries that are burst with heat,

They have putten fire upon his flesh,
 For nae fire wad it shrink:
They have casten his body in the wan well-head,
 For nae water wad it sink.

Up then gat the fiend Borolallie,
 Bade them "Give ower and let me:
Between warld's fire and warld's water
 He gat a gift of me;
Till fire come out of wan water,
 There's nane shall gar him dee."

"A rede, a rede, thou foul Borolallie,
 A good rede out of hand;
Shall we be wroken of Lord Soulis
 By water or by land?

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