Why thus despair? Is Gerda thy beloved?
Cannot she, thinkst thou, by thy prayers be moved?
Is she not young, and handsome, soft and mild,
In the first spring of life a flow’ret wild?
Thinkst thou a goblin bridegroom doom’d to prove
The exquisite reward of Gerda’s love?
Shame were it for a ruler of the skies,
Should Horse-leg, the rough clown, bear off the prize;
Or should a damsel of such wondrous charms
Languish and pine in Goat-beard’s shaggy arms.”[77]