Ruffling their scales and quills like golden flags,

And, pawing their odd cubs, the hippogriffs

Rolled in their nests, upon the shady cliffs;

And in the glens, both bears and royal stags,

With lazy lions, goats, and yawning leopards

Like cattle lay, and children were their shepherds.

Along through ancient forests, vast, and slumbrous,

Roes, of the mountain, grazed beside the springs,

And often rose some bird of plumage cumbrous

Unto the branches, folding his wide wings.