Oh, who has seen the Wild Hunt
And lived to tell the tale?
Oh, who has seen them in the sky,
Or in the misty vale?
Ever have we heard their steeds
As through the night they rode.
Led out by their darkling Lord
From some unknown abode.
Ever have we heard them course
And heard their hunting-cries
Echo from the mountaintops
And from the frosty skies.
But who has ever seen the Hunt
Upon its wild race;
Oh, who has seen the Horned One,
And met him, face-to-face?
And who has seen their awful camp
Where eldritch fires burn?
Who has feasted with the Hunt
And, living, has returned?
Well, I have seen the Wild Hunt,
And ridden with the pack:
I've run with them through all the worlds --
To Tir-na nOg and back.
I was just a youth the day
I made the drunken vow
That brought me to the sorry sight
You see before you now.
I swore I would on Samhain ride
Where none had ridden yet:
All night along the Old Straight Track
For a foolish, boasting bet.
And so I stood on Shining Tor
On Samhain Night to ride,
While those who had more wit than I
Within their walls did bide.
My horse, it would not set one hoof
On that uncanny track,
And when I used the goad and whip
It threw me from its back.
The Old Straight Track, it glimmered fair
Like molten silver flowed,
And clearly I must go afoot
Along that ancient road.
I stood and strengthened my resolve
(With a curse for a faithless beast)
By taking a sip from the flask at my hip
And I turned toward the East.
As straight as fate the trail ran
For a notch in the Eastern hills,
And over that notch the Moon rose full
Its light on the downs to spill.
With my very first step along the track
I felt vibrations hum
Through my body and up my legs,
And I broke into a run.
Effortless, I ran and ran,
And it seemed to me I heard
Tiny silver bells and songs,
Though I could not catch the words.
Then suddenly another sound:
Hunting-hounds that howled,
And over my shoulder I saw in fear
A host of riders cowled.
Now I ran in terror true,
But swifter far were they;
The leader swept me off my feet
And carried me away.
How to describe that awful ride
O'er hill and tree and Sea?
How to describe the terrible sights
The Hunter showed to me?
The Lord of the Beasts and the Lord of the Dead
And Lord of the Dark is He;
Ten thousand fair and foul rode
Beside Him, Knee to knee
Through countless leagues and countless lands
We swept in a single night,
And by the time we reached their camp
I was all but dead from fright.
A dark and silent place it was,
No single word was said;
No sound was heard from fire or foot,
No color but black and red.
Beside their Lord they set a place
And gestured me to eat,
And his antlers towered over me
As I, trembling, took my seat.
The food seemed good, but I knew the tales
And I would not take on bite
Till the Hunter whispered in my ear
"I'll keep you but one night."
So I ate, and the riders' faces moved
As though they laughed and cheered,
But no matter how I listened and strained
No whisper could I hear.
We feasted well and we feasted long,
And many a toast we drank
And slowly, slowly, the moon dipped down,
And into the West it sank
And when it touched the Western hills
We mounted up once more,
And a thousand winds blew in my face
As through the night we tore.
And horrors more they showed to me
Of which I cannot tell,
And those who'd been glad company
Were once more dark and fell.
Again we rode the worlds around
To the sound of the hunting-horn,
'Til I found myself on Shining Tor,
Weak as a babe newborn.
I painfully raised myself to stand
And hobbled to my home;
And to my folk and kin therein
I called to make me known.
They came to the door and looked at me
Like a stranger they knew not;
And when I tried to tell my tale,
The door they slammed and locked.
Within the house their words I heard:
"A lunatic," said they,
"For he is old, and our son is young,"
As I turned and walked away.
The final words of the Horned One
As He left me on the Tor
Now made sense, and I knew that I
Must wander evermore.
"You've run and drunk with the Wild Hunt,
And they have toasted thee,
And so you're pledged to the Wild Hunt,
And pledged thereby to me."
"Your life I hold within my hand,
Though I'll not take it all,
But soon will come the day when you
Will long for the hunting-call."
"And when the time is right for you
Once more with the Hunt to ride,
Then I will come and claim my own
To gallop by my side."
"You'll join our noble company
And evermore you'll ride
And hunt and feast and laugh with us
Across the worlds so wide."
And so I wander through this world,
Unknown, unloved, alone.
Waiting for the Antlered One
To come and take me home.