{
 "id": "robert-louis-stevenson/ticonderoga",
 "title": "Ticonderoga",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": "A Legend of the West Highlands",
 "poet": "Robert Louis Stevenson",
 "poet_slug": "robert-louis-stevenson",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Ballads",
 "book_slug": "ballads",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 3,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1890,
  "venue": "Ballads (1890)",
  "note": "This 1890 volume is the first book printing of these five ballads, but it is not certainly the first printing of each of them: the volume's own notes record that 'Ticonderoga' had already appeared in Scribner's Magazine. Whether the others were printed in a periodical before 1890 has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/ballad00stev"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/robert-louis-stevenson_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/worksofrobertlvol28stev",
   "https://archive.org/details/worksofrobertlou14stev",
   "https://archive.org/details/newpoemsandvaria00stevuoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemshithertounp00stevrich",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31291",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30659",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/441",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Poems,_by_Robert_Louis_Stevenson,_hitherto_unpublished"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 284,
  "n_stanzas": 25,
  "n_parts": 3,
  "longest_line_chars": 47,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [
  {
   "ordinal": "I",
   "title": "The Saying of the Name",
   "stanza_range": [
    1,
    15
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "II",
   "title": "The Seeking of the Name",
   "stanza_range": [
    15,
    20
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "III",
   "title": "The Place of the Name",
   "stanza_range": [
    20,
    25
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "This is the tale of the man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who heard a word in the night",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In the land of the heathery hills,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the days of the feud and the fight.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "By the sides of the rainy sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where never a stranger came,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "On the awful lips of the dead,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He heard the outlandish name.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It sang in his sleeping ears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It hummed in his waking head:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The name⁠—Ticonderoga,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The utterance of the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "On the loch-sides of Appin,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When the mist blew from the sea,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A Stewart stood with a Cameron:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An angry man was he.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The blood beat in his ears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The blood ran hot to his head,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The mist blew from the sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And there was the Cameron dead.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“O, what have I done to my friend,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O, what have I done to mysel’,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That he should be cold and dead,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And I in the danger of all?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Nothing but danger about me,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Danger behind and before,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Death at wait in the heather",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Appin and Mamore,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Hate at all of the ferries,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And death at each of the fords,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Camerons priming gun-locks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Camerons sharpening swords.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But this was a man of counsel,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This was a man of a score,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "There dwelt no pawkier Stewart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Appin or Mamore.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He looked on the blowing mist,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He looked on the awful dead,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And there came a smile on his face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And there slipped a thought in his head.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Out over cairn and moss,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Out over scrog and scaur,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He ran as runs the clansman",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That bears the cross of war.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His heart beat in his body,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His hair clove to his face,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When he came at last in the gloaming",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the dead man’s brother’s place.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The east was white with the moon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The west with the sun was red,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And there, in the house-doorway,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stood the brother of the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I have slain a man to my danger,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I have slain a man to my death.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I put my soul in your hands,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The panting Stewart saith.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“I lay it bare in your hands,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For I know your hands are leal;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And be you my targe and bulwark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the bullet and the steel.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then up and spoke the Cameron,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And gave him his hand again:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“There shall never a man in Scotland",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Set faith in me in vain;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And whatever man you have slaughtered,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of whatever name or line,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "By my sword and yonder mountain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I make your quarrel mine.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I bid you in to my fireside,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I share with you house and hall;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It stands upon my honour",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To see you safe from all.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It fell in the time of midnight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When the fox barked in the den,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the plaids were over the faces",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In all the houses of men,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That as the living Cameron",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lay sleepless on his bed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Out of the night and the other world,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came in to him the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“My blood is on the heather,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My bones are on the hill;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "There is joy in the home of ravens",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That the young shall eat their fill.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "My blood is poured in the dust,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My soul is spilled in the air;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the man that has undone me",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sleeps in my brother’s care.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I’m wae for your death, my brother,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But if all of my house were dead,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I couldna withdraw the plighted hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor break the word once said.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“O, what shall I say to our father,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the place to which I fare?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "O, what shall I say to our mother,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who greets to see me there?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And to all the kindly Camerons",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That have lived and died long-syne⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Is this the word you send them,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fause-hearted brother mine?”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“It’s neither fear nor duty,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It’s neither quick nor dead,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall gar me withdraw the plighted hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or break the word once said.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thrice in the time of midnight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When the fox barked in the den,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the plaids were over the faces",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In all the houses of men,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thrice as the living Cameron",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lay sleepless on his bed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Out of the night and the other world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came in to him the dead,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And cried to him for vengeance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the man that laid him low;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And thrice the living Cameron",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Told the dead Cameron, no.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Thrice have you seen me, brother,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But now shall see me no more,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till you meet your angry fathers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the farther shore.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thrice have I spoken, and now,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before the cock be heard,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I take my leave forever",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the naming of a word.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It shall sing in your sleeping ears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It shall hum in your waking head,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The name⁠—Ticonderoga,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the warning of the dead.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Now when the night was over",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the time of people’s fears,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The Cameron walked abroad,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the word was in his ears.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Many a name I know,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But never a name like this;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "O, where shall I find a skilly man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall tell me what it is?”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With many a man he counselled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of high and low degree,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With the herdsman on the mountains",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the fishers of the sea.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And he came and went unweary,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And read the books of yore,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the runes that were written of old",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On stones upon the moor.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And many a name he was told,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But never the name of his fears⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Never, in east or west,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The name that rang in his ears:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Names of men and of clans;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Names for the grass and the tree,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For the smallest tarn in the mountains,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The smallest reef in the sea:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Names for the high and low,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The names of the craig and the flat;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But in all the land of Scotland,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Never a name like that.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And now there was speech in the south,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a man of the south that was wise,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A periwig’d lord of London,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Called on the clans to rise.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the riders rode, and the summons",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came to the western shore,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To the land of the sea and the heather,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To Appin and Mamore.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It called on all to gather",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From every scrog and scaur,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That loved their fathers’ tartan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the ancient game of war.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And down the watery valley",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And up the windy hill,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Once more, as in the olden,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The pipes were sounding shrill;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Again in Highland sunshine",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The naked steel was bright;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the lads, once more in tartan,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Went forth again to fight.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“O, why should I dwell here",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a weird upon my life,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When the clansmen shout for battle",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the war-swords clash in strife?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I canna joy at feast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I canna sleep in bed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For the wonder of the word",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the warning of the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It sings in my sleeping ears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It hums in my waking head,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The name⁠—Ticonderoga,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The utterance of the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Then up, and with the fighting men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To march away from here,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till the cry of the great war-pipe",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall drown it in my ear!”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Where flew King George’s ensign",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The plaided soldiers went:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They drew the sword in Germany,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Flanders pitched the tent.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The bells of foreign cities",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rang far across the plain:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They passed the happy Rhine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They drank the rapid Main.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Through Asiatic jungles",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Tartans filed their way,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the neighing of the war-pipes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Struck terror in Cathay.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Many a name have I heard,” he thought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“In all the tongues of men,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Full many a name both here and there,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Full many both now and then.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When I was at home in my father’s house,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the land of the naked knee,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Between the eagles that fly in the lift",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the herrings that swim in the sea,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And now that I am a captain-man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a braw cockade in my hat⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Many a name have I heard,” he thought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“But never a name like that.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There fell a war in a woody place,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lay far across the sea,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A war of the march in the mirk midnight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the shot from behind the tree,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The shaven head and the painted face,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The silent foot in the wood,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In the land of a strange, outlandish tongue",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That was hard to be understood.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It fell about the gloaming,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The general stood with his staff,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He stood and he looked east and west",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With little mind to laugh.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Far have I been, and much have I seen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And kennt both gain and loss,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But here we have woods on every hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a kittle water to cross.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Far have I been, and much have I seen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But never the beat of this;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And there’s one must go down to that water-side",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To see how deep it is.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It fell in the dusk of the night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When unco things betide,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The skilly captain, the Cameron,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Went down to that waterside.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Canny and soft the captain went;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a man of the woody land,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With the shaven head and the painted face,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Went down at his right hand.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It fell in the quiet night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There was never a sound to ken;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But all of the woods to the right and the left",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lay filled with the painted men.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Far have I been, and much have I seen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Both as a man and boy,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But never have I set forth a foot,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On so perilous an employ.”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It fell in the dusk of the night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When unco things betide,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That he was aware of a captain-man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Drew near to the water-side.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He was aware of his coming",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Down in the gloaming alone;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And he looked in the face of the man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And lo! the face was his own.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“This is my weird,” he said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And now I ken the worst;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For many shall fall the morn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But I shall fall with the first.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "O, you of the outland tongue,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You of the painted face,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "This is the place of my death;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can you tell me the name of the place?”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Since the Frenchmen have been here",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They have called it Sault-Marie;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But that is a name for priests,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And not for you and me.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It went by another word,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Quoth he of the shaven head:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“It was called Ticonderoga",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the days of the great dead.”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And it fell on the morrow’s morning,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the fiercest of the fight,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That the Cameron bit the dust",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As he foretold at night;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And far from the hills of heather,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Far from the isles of the sea,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He sleeps in the place of the name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As it was doomed to be.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}