145 Now come we to Saint Anthony,
A man with valour fraught,
The champion of fair Italy,
Who many wonders wrought.
First, he a mighty giant slew,
150 The terror of mankind:
Young ladies fair, pure virgins too,
This giant kept confined
Within his castle walls of stone,
And gates of solid brass,
155 Where seven ladies made their moan,
But out they could not pass.
Many brave lords, and knights likewise,
To free them did engage,
Who fell a bleeding sacrifice
160 To this fierce giant's rage.
Fair daughters to a royal king!
Yet fortune, after all,
Did our renowned champion bring
To free them from their thrall.
165 Assisted by the hand of heaven,
He ventured life and limb:
Behold the fairest of the seven,
She fell in love with him.
That champion good, bold Saint Andrew,
170 The famous Scottish knight,
Dark gloomy deserts travelled through,
Where Phoebus gave no light.
Haunted with spirits, for a while
His weary course he steers,
175 Till fortune blessed him with a smile,
And shook off all his fears.
This Christian champion travell'd long,
Till at the length he came
Unto the giant's castle strong,
180 Great Blanderon by name,
Where the king's daughters were transform'd
Into the shape of swans:
Though them he freed, their father storm'd,
But he his malice shuns.
185 For though five hundred armed knights
Did straight beset him round,
Our Christian champion with them fights,
Till on the heathen ground
Most of those Pagans bleeding lay;
190 Which much perplexed the king;
The Scottish champion clears the way,
Which was a glorious thing.
Saint Patrick too, of Ireland,
That noble knight of fame,
195 He travelled, as we understand,
Till at the length he came
Into a grove where satyrs dwelt,
Where ladies he beheld,
Who had their raged fury felt,
200 And were with sorrow fill'd.
He drew his sword, and did maintain
A sharp and bloody fray,
Till the ring-leader he had slain;
The rest soon fled away.
205 This done, he asked the ladies fair,
Who were in silks array'd,
From whence they came, and who they were.
They answered him and said: