"
Then laugh'd the maiden beneath her sleeve;
"If he were my husband I should not grieve."
He stepp'd over benches one and two:
"O, Marsk Stig's daughter, I doat on you."
He stepp'd over benches two and three:
"O, Marsk Stig's daughter, come home with me."
Then said the maid, without more ado,
"Here take my troth, I will go with you."
They went from the church a bridal train,
And danc'd so gaily across the plain;
They danc'd till they came to the strand, and then
They were forsaken by maids and men.
"Now, Marsk Stig's daughter, sit down and rest;
To build a boat I will do my best."
He built a boat of the whitest sand,
And away they went from the smiling land;
But when they had cross'd the ninth green wave,
Down sunk the boat to the ocean cave!
I caution ye, maids, as well as I can,
Ne'er give your troth to an unknown man.
THE DECEIVED MERMAN.
FROM THE OLD DANISH.
Fair Agnes alone on the sea-shore stood,
Then rose a Merman from out the flood:
"Now, Agnes, hear what I say to thee,
Wilt thou my leman consent to be?"
"O, freely that will I become,
If thou but take me beneath the foam.
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