ate good service she wrought_
_That she was a woman no one ever thought_.

_She filled for three years of a horse-boy the place_,
_And the steeds of the monarch she drove out to graze_.

_She led for three years the King's steeds to the brook_,
_For else than a youth no one Ingeborg took_.

_Proud Ingeborg knows how to make the dames gay_,
_She also can sing in such ravishing way_.

_The hair on her head is like yellow spun gold_,
_To her beauty the heart of the prince was not cold_.

_But at length up and down in the palace she strayed_,
_Her colour and hair began swiftly to fade_.

_What eye has seen ever so wondrous a case_?
_The boy his own spurs to his heel cannot brace_.

_The horse-boy is brought to so wondrous a plight_,
_To draw his own weapon he has not the might_.

_The son of the King to five damsels now sends_,
_And Ingeborg fair to their care he commends_.

_Proud Ingeborg took they and wrapped in their weed_,
_And to the stone chamber with her they proceed_.

_Upon the blue cushions they Ingeborg laid_,
_Where light of two beautiful sons she is made_.

_Then in came the prince_, _smiled the babies to view_:
"'_Tis not every horse-boy can bear such a two_."

_He patted her soft on her cheek sleek and fair_:
"_Forget my heart's dearest all sorrow and care_."

_He placed the gold crown on her temples I ween_:
"_With me shalt thou live as my wife and my Queen_."

The complete Manuscript of _The Return of the Dead and Other Ballads_ is
in my own library.

There is a copy of _The Return of the Dead and Other Ballads_ in the
Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C.44.d.38.

[Picture: Title page of The Return of the Dead]

[Picture: Manuscript of Ingeborg's Disguise]

(29) [AXEL THORDSON: 1913]

Axel Thordson / and Fair Valborg / A Ballad / By / George Borrow /
London: / Printed for Private Circulation / 1913.

Collation:--Square demy octavo, pp. 45; consisting of: Half-title (with
blank reverse) pp. 1-2; Title-page, as above (with a notice regarding the
American copyright upon the reverse) pp. 3-4; and text of _the Ballad_
pp. 5-45. The head-line is _Axel Thordson and Fair Valborg_ throughout,
upon both sides of the page. Upon the reverse of p. 45 is the following
imprint: "_London_: / _Printed for Thomas J. Wise_, _Hampstead_, _N.W.