V
Figures twain, morose and baleful,
And on all-fours slowly creeping,
Break themselves a gloomy passage
Through the underwood at midnight.
That is Atta Troll, the father,
And his son, young Master One-Ear.
"This old stone"—growls Atta Troll—
"Is the altar, where the Druids
"In the days of superstition
Human sacrifices butchered.
Oh, the overwhelming horror!
Shedding blood to honour God!
"Now indeed far more enlightened
Are these men—they only murder
Now from selfishness and grasping.
Each one plunders for himself!
"Nature never yet created
Owners, no—for void of pockets,
Not a pocket in our fur coats,
We were born, the whole of us.
"Only man, that smooth-skinned being,
Could in borrowed wool, so artful,
Dress himself, or could, so artful,
Thus provide himself with pockets.
"Be the mortal foe of all such
Fierce oppressors, reconcileless,
To the end of thy existence—
Swear it, swear it here, my son!"
And the youngest swore as once did
Hannibal. The moon illumined
With her yellow light the Blood-stone,
And the pair of misanthropes.