{
 "id": "george-macdonald/legend-of-the-corrievrechan",
 "title": "Legend of the Corrievrechan",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "George MacDonald",
 "poet_slug": "george-macdonald",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Disciple and Other Poems",
 "book_slug": "the-disciple-and-other-poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 20,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1867,
  "venue": "The Disciple and Other Poems (1867)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/discipleandothe02macdgoog",
   "https://archive.org/metadata/discipleandothe02macdgoog"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/george-macdonald_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1953",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8949",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9543",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9984",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10578",
   "https://archive.org/details/bookofstrifeinfo00macd",
   "https://archive.org/details/discipleandothe02macdgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/hiddenlifeandoth00macduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/discipleandothe02macdgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/rampolli00macd",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102955776",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011821572"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 76,
  "n_stanzas": 19,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 54,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Prince Breacan of Denmark was lord of the strand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And lord of the billowy sea;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Lord of the sea and lord of the land,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He might have let maidens be!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A maiden he met with locks of gold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Straying beside the sea:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Maidens listened in days of old,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And repented grievously.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Wiser he left her in evil wiles,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Went sailing over the sea;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Came to the lord of the Western Isles:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Give me thy daughter, said he.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The lord of the Isles he laughed, and said:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Only a king of the sea",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "May think the Maid of the Isles to wed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And such, men call not thee!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Hold thine own three nights and days",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In yon whirlpool of the sea,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Or turn thy prow and go thy ways",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And let the isle-maiden be.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Prince Breacan he turned his dragon prow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To Denmark over the sea:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Wise women, he said, now tell me how",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In yon whirlpool to anchor me.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Make a cable of hemp and a cable of wool",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a cable of maidens’ hair,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And hie thee back to the roaring pool",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And anchor in safety there.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The smiths of Greydule, on the eve of Yule,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will forge three anchors rare;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The hemp thou shalt pull, thou shalt shear the wool,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the maidens will bring their hair.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Of the hair that is brown thou shalt twist one strand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the hair that is raven another;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the golden hair thou shalt twine a band",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To bind the one to the other!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The smiths of Greydule, on the eve of Yule,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They forged three anchors rare;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The hemp he did pull, and he shore the wool,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the maidens brought their hair.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He twisted the brown hair for one strand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The raven hair for another;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He twined the golden hair in a band",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To bind the one to the other.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He took the cables of hemp and wool.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He took the cable of hair,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He hied him back to the roaring pool,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He cast the three anchors there.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The whirlpool roared, and the day went by,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And night came down on the sea;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But or ever the morning broke the sky",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hemp was broken in three.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The night it came down, the whirlpool it ran,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The wind it fiercely blew;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And or ever the second morning began",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The wool it parted in two.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The storm it roared all day the third,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The whirlpool wallowed about,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The night came down like a wild black bird,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But the cable of hair held out.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Round and round with a giddy swing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Went the sea-king through the dark;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Round went the rope in the swivel-ring,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Round reeled the straining bark.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Prince Breacan he stood on his dragon prow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A lantern in his hand:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Blest be the maidens of Denmark now,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By them shall Denmark stand!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He watched the rope through the tempest black",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A lantern in his hold:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Out, out, alack! one strand will crack!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It is the strand of gold!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The third morn clear and calm came out:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No anchored ship was there!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The golden strand in the cable stout",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was not all of maidens’ hair.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}