Classic Poem

The lord of Hrub-Kozoged's lands.
On swift-pac'd steed is homeward gone,
With John, who waits his lord's commands—
His huntsman bold, his faithful John.
His brow is like a tempest cloud,
With angry scowls he looks around—
“Where is my greyhound—where?” aloud
He asks—“Say where my favorite hound?”

And three long wearying days they track
Hill, wood, and every wonted place,
And no one brings the greyhound back,
And none the greyhound's path can trace.
Kozoged's master homeward turns,
As death and midnight dark and drear,
And mourning sighs, and sighing mourns—
“Where is my fav'rite greyhound—where?”

He spoke—and as he spoke—behold
An ancient witch on crutches pass'd,
One-eyed and hunch-back'd, haggard, old,
Fierce as a screech-owl—lo! she cast
A hellish light from fiendish eye;
Parch'd skin and bone her wither'd hands.
She call'd—'twas like the raven's cry,
Hot—hoarse—the knight astonish'd stands.

“Stop! stop! sir knight! arrest thy steed,
And bid thy train their steeds arrest,
For I can do a friendly deed,
And drive the storm-clouds from thy breast.
I know what thou hast lost—I know
Where thy poor hound is wandering now:
But 'tis in vain to tell thee so,
Thou art incredulous, I vow!

“Deliver me thy John—and I,
Thy fav'rite hound will bring to-morrow.
And dost thou wish to ask me why?
Know that the sorceress can borrow
Youth from youth's blood—the stars above
Have told it—I shall be, in truth,
A maid of beauty and of love,
Wash'd in the blood-streams of the youth.”

The youth he chang'd as pale as death,
Few words his anguish could impel;
'Twixt hope and fear—with stifled breath,
Upon his trembling knees he fell—
“O, gentle master! hear! I pray!
O, listen to mine urgent suit:
Give not thy servant's life away,
His life so precious, for a brute.”

But other care, and other thought,
Across his master's bosom fly;
John's pale, cold cheeks he heeded nought,
But turn'd away his careless eye.
“Give me my hound at morning dawn,”
So to the witch the knight replied,
“And huntsman John shall be thine own—
I swear it—so be satisfied.”