Down sunk the gyant gaping wide,
And rolling his grim eyes:
The hairy youth repeats his blows:
He gasps, he groans, he dies.
Quickly sir Valentine reviv'd 85
With Ursine's timely care:
And now to search the castle walls
The venturous youths repair.
The blood and bones of murder'd knights
They found where'er they came: 90
At length within a lonely cell
They saw a mournful dame.
Her gentle eyes were dim'd with tears;
Her cheeks were pale with woe:
And long sir Valentine besought 95
Her doleful tale to know.
"Alas! young knight," she weeping said,
"Condole my wretched fate:
A childless mother here you see;
A wife without a mate. 100
"These twenty winters here forlorn
I've drawn my hated breath;
Sole witness of a monster's crimes,
And wishing aye for death.
"Know, I am sister of a king; 105
And in my early years
Was married to a mighty prince,
The fairest of his peers.
"With him I sweetly liv'd in love
A twelvemonth and a day: 110
When, lo! a foul and treacherous priest
Y-wrought our loves' decay.
"His seeming goodness wan him pow'r;
He had his master's ear:
And long to me and all the world 115
He did a saint appear.
"One day, when we were all alone,
He proffer'd odious love:
The wretch with horrour I repuls'd,
And from my presence drove. 120