“Now yield thyself; we would not do thee wrong;
Full well we know all rights to thee belong.
Thy safety we desire and not thy life,
Tho’ thou hast filled our land with grief and strife.”
With one fell blow Aac struck the speaker dead,
Then shook the dripping axe above his head.
But scarce the deed was done when from the crowd
An elder man leaped forth and wailed aloud—
“My son! my son! avenged thou now shalt be;
Thy life destroyed, no Prince is there for me!”