As when the boughs with hideous fall
Some hapless woodman crush:
With such a force the enormous foe
Did on the champion rush.
A fearful blow, alas! there came,
Both horse and knight it took,
And laid them senseless in the dust;
So fatal was the stroke.
Then smiling forth a hideous grin,
The giant strides in haste,
And, stooping, aims a second stroke:
Now, caitiff, breathe thy last!
But ere it fell, two thundering blows
Upon his scull descend:
From Ursine's knotty club they came,
Who ran to save his friend.
Down sank the giant gaping wide,
And rolling his grim eyes:
The hairy youth repeats his blows:
He gasps, he groans, he dies.
Quickly sir Valentine reviv'd,
With Ursine's timely care:
And now to search the castle walls
The venturous youths repair.
The blood and bones of murder'd knight
They found where'er they came:
At length within a lonely cell
They saw a mournful dame.
Her gentle eyes were dimm'd with tears;
Her cheeks were pale with woe;
And long sir Valentine besought
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.
These twenty winters here forlorn
I've drawn my hated breath;
Sole witness of a monster's crimes,
And wishing aye for death.