| The following are lines from the poem The Flyting of Mongomerie and Polwart, by Scottish poet Alexander Mongtomerie; written c. 1580, it is an account of Samhain Eve's Wild Hunt (Samhain is one of two nights a year--the other being Beltaine [May 1]--when the veil between the world thins, and the Fae roar through the dark sky looking for trouble.) I have modernized the language somewhat. When our "good neighbors" ride if I think right Some mounted on ragweed and some on a bean, All tripping in troupes from the twilight; Some saddles on a she-ape arrayed in green, Some riding on hempstalks rising on high, The King of Faerie with his court and the Elf-Queen With many an eldritch incubus was riding that night. . |
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What book did you get that from? I really like it.
Hey Jackie!
I got it from Ronald Hutton's "The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain" (which is an excellent book for anyone looking to study paganism or traditional witchcraft), but Montgomerie's poetry can be found in a lot of places.
There's an interesting analysis of this stanza here.
That book would have come in handy my last year in college!
cool
I LOVE Ronald Hutton's books - heavy on the research and mysteries and vast amounts of muse-crack, that's for sure!
Liz
Ohh I like it!