The other one threw himself thrice on the ground,
And finally spoke with obeisance profound:
“O monarch, I’ll tell thee the actual fact,
“And then as thou will’st, thou canst afterwards act.
“There lives in the North a woman fair,
“Of lofty stature and beauty rare;
“Thy elephant’s certainly handsome, Sir,
“But still not fit to be liken’d to her.
“Compared with her, he only appears
“A little white mouse; her form she rears
“Like giantess Bimha in Ramajana,
“And like the Ephesians’ great Diana.
“Her limbs are combined in a beautiful frame;
“Two lofty pilasters support the same,
“And proudly and gracefully stand upright,
“Of alabaster dazzling and white.
“This is God Amor’s temple gigantic,
“In other words, love’s cathedral romantic!
“As lamp there burns within the fane
“A heart quite free from spot and stain.
“The poets are nonpluss’d how to begin
“To describe the charms of her snow-white skin;
“E’en Gautier[65] unable to do it, alas! is,
“Its whiteness all description surpasses.
“The highest Himalaya’s snow
“Beside her seems ash-grey to grow;
“The lily that she by accident thumbs
“Through envy or contrast yellow becomes.
“The Countess Bianca is the name
“Of this enormous snow-white dame;
“At Paris she dwells, in the land of France,
“And the elephant loves her by singular chance.
“By strange and wondrous elective affinity
“She became through a dream his bosom’s divinity
“And into his heart this lofty Ideal
“First crept by means of a vision unreal.
“Since then he’s consumed by a yearning stealthy,
“And he, who was once so joyous and healthy,
“As a four-footed Werther sadly stands,
“And dreams of a Lotte in Northern lands.