‘As yesternight we rode upon the wind
He issued to pursue us from the wood;
We saw his back, that through the tree-tops finn’d,
His fiery eyes glared from their wrinkl’d hood.
Lo, now betimes the oracle, which said
How to the savage beast thou shouldst be wed,
Is plainly for thy safety understood.
8
‘Long time hath he been known to all that dwell
Upon the plain; but now his secret lair