The splendor sparkling from aloft, and thought, "An I could climb and lay my hand upon it, 50 Then were I wealthier than a leash of kings." But ever when he reach'd a hand to climb, One that had loved him from his childhood caught And stay'd him, "Climb not lest thou break thy neck, I charge thee by my love," and so the boy, Sweet mother, neither clomb nor brake his neck, But brake his very heart in pining for it, To whom the mother said, 'True love, sweet son, had risk'd himself and climb'd, And handed down the golden treasure to him.' 60 And saying: Son, I have seen the good ship sail Keel upward, and mast downward, in the heavens, 250 And solid turrets topsy-turvy in air; Take thou the truth as thou hast told it me. Toward the sunrise, each with harp in hand, And built it to the music of their harps. 260 Yet pressing on, tho' all in fear to find the throne Clear honor shining like the dewy star Affection, and the light of victory, Then came a widow crying to the King: 'A boon, Sir King! Thy father, Uther, reft From my dead lord a field with violence; For howsoe'er at first he proffer'd gold, 329 Yet, for the field was pleasant in our eyes, We yielded not; and then he reft us of it Perforce and left us neither gold nor field! |