Windsor Castle

by William Harrison Ainsworth

"About,  about!

Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out."

        SHAKESPEARE, Merry Wives of Windsor

There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter,Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest,Doth all the winter time, at still midnight,Walk round about an oak, with great ragg\'d horns;And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain In a most hideous and dreadful manner:You have heard of such a spirit; and well you know,The superstitious idle-headed eld Receiv\'d, and did deliver to our age,This tale of Herne the hunter for a truth." --ibid