Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

THE CLOUD-KING.

"WHY, how now, Sir Pilgrim? why shake you with dread? Why brave you the winds of night, cutting and cold? Full warm was your charmber, full soft was your bed, And scarce by the castle-bell twelve has been toll'd."

"Oh! hear you not, Warder, with anxious dismay,
How rages the tempest, how patters the rain?
While loud howls the whirlwind, and threatens, ere day,
To strew these old turrets in heaps on the plain!"

"Now calm thee, Sir Pilgrim! thy fears to remove, Know, yearly, this morning is destin'd to bring Such storms, which declare that resentment and love Still gnaw the proud heart of the cruel Cloud-King.

"One morning, as borne on the wings of the blast,
The fiend over Denmark directed his flight,

A glance upon Rosenhall's turrets he cast,
And gazed on its lady with wanton delight.

"Yet proud was her eye, and her cheek flush'd with rage, Her lips with disdain and reproaches were fraught!

And lo! at her feet knelt a lovely young page,

And thus in soft accents compassion besought.

"Oh drive not, dear beauty, a wretch to despair,

Whose fault is so venial, a fault if it be ;

For who could have eyes, and not see thou art fair;
Or who have an heart, and not give it to thee?

“‘I own I adore you! I own you have been [my day; Long the dream of my night, long the thought of But no hope had my heart that its idolized queen Would ever with passion my passion repay.

"When insects delight in the blaze of the sun, They harbour no wish in his glory to share : When kneels on the cross of her Saviour, the nun,

He scorns not the praises she breathes in her prayer.

"When the pilgrim repairs to St. Hermegild's shrine, And claims of her relics a kiss as his fee,

His passion is humble, is pure, is divine,

And such is the passion I cherish for thee!'

"Rash youth! how presum'st thou with insolent love,' Thus answered the lady, 'her ears to profane, Whom the monarchs of Norway and Jutland, to move Their passion to pity attempted in vain?

"Fly, fly from my sight, to some far distant land!

That wretch must not breathe, where Romilda resides, Whose lips, while she slept, stole a kiss from that hand, No mortal is worthy to press as a bride's.

"Nor e'er will I wed till some prince of the air, His heart at the throne of my beauty shall lay, And the two first commands which I give him, shall swear, (Though hard should the task be enjoin'd) to obey.' "She said.-Straight the castle of Rosenhall rocks With an earthquake, and thunders announce the Cloud-King:

A crown of red lightnings confined his fair locks, And high o'er each arm waved an huge sable wing. "His sandals were meteors; his blue eye reveal'd

The firmament's lustre, and light scatter'd round! While his robe, a bright tissue, of rain-drops congeal'd, Reflected the lightnings his temples that bound.

6

"Romilda!' he thundered, thy charms and thy pride Have drawn down a spirit; thy fears now dismiss, For no mortal shall call thee, proud beauty, his bride; The Cloud-Monarch comes to demand thee for his.

"My eyes furnish lightnings, my wings cloud the air, My hand guides the thunder, my breath wakes the

storm;

And the two first commands which you give me, I swear (Though hard should the task be enjoin'd) to perform.'

"He said, and he seized her; then urging his flight, Swift bore her away, while she struggled in vain! Yet long in her ears rang the shrieks of affright, Which poured for her danger the page Amorayn.

"At the Palace of Clouds soon Romilda arrived,

When the Fiend, with a smile which her terrors

increased,

Exclaim'd-' I must warn my three brothers I'm wived,

And bid them prepare for my wedding the feast.'

"Than lightning then swifter thrice round did he turn, Thrice bitterly cursed he the Parent of good, And next in a chafing-dish hasten'd to burn

Three locks of his hair, and three drops of his blood:

"And quickly Romilda, with anxious affright,

Hears the tramp of a steed, and beheld at the gate A youth in white arms-'twas the false Water-Sprite, And behind him his mother, the sorceress, sate.

"The youth he was comely, and fair to behold,

The hag was the foulest eye ever survey'd;

Each placed on the table a goblet of gold,

While thus to Romilda the Water-King said;

"Hail, Queen of the Clouds! lo! we bring thee for drink The blood of a damsel both lovely and rich,

Whom I tempted, and left 'midst the billows to sink, Where she died by the hands of my mother the witch.

"But seest thou yon chariot, which speeds from afar ?
The Erl-King with his daughter it brings, while a throng
Of wood-fiends and succubi sports round the car,
And goads on the night-mares that whirl it along.'

"The maid, while her eyes tears of agony pour'd, Beheld the Erl-King and his daughter draw near: A Charger of silver each placed on the board,

While the fiend of the forests thus greeted her ear.

""With the heart of a warrior, Cloud-Queen, for thy food, The head of a child on thy table we place :

She spell-struck the knight as he stray'd through the wood; I strangled the child in his father's embrace.'

"The roof now divided.-By fogs half conceal'd,
Suck'd from marshes, infecting the air as he came,
And blasting the verdure of forest and field,
On a dragon descended the Giant of Flame.

"Fire seem'd from his eyes and his nostrils to pour; His breath was a volume of sulphurous smoke; He brandish'd a sabre still dropping with gore,

And his voice shook the palace when silence he broke.

"Feast, Queen of the Clouds! the repast do not scorn; Feast, Queen of the Clouds! I perceive thou hast food! To-morrow I feast in my turn, for at morn

Shall I feed on thy flesh, shall I drink of thy blood!

"Lo! I bring for a present this magical brand, The bowels of Christians have dyed it with red; This once flamed in Albert the renegade's hand, And is destined to-morrow to strike off thy head.'

« ElőzőTovább »