The hall was furnished in a manner equally grand, and at one end of it
was a glorious couch of velvet, silk and gold, and there sate Burd
Ellen, combing her golden hair with a silver comb. And when she saw
Childe Rowland she stood up and said:

"God pity ye, poor luckless fool,
What have ye here to do?

"Hear ye this, my youngest brother,
Why didn't ye bide at home?
Had you a hundred thousand lives
Ye couldn't spare any a one.

"But sit ye down; but woe, O, woe,
That ever ye were born,
For come the King of Elfland in,
Your fortune is forlorn."

Then they sate down together, and Childe Rowland told her all that he
had done, and she told him how their two brothers had reached the Dark
Tower, but had been enchanted by the King of Elfland, and lay there
entombed as if dead. And then after they had talked a little longer
Childe Rowland began to feel hungry from his long travels, and told
his sister Burd Ellen how hungry he was and asked for some food,
forgetting all about the Warlock Merlin's warning.

Burd Ellen looked at Childe Rowland sadly, and shook her head, but she
was under a spell, and could not warn him. So she rose up, and went
out, and soon brought back a golden basin full of bread and milk.
Childe Rowland was just going to raise it to his lips, when he looked