(5 months, 27 days later)
I have returned! And now my tale I'll tell to you:
Long did I search.
With panting breath and travel-stainèd cloak
I climbed the towers of the highest mount,
Mount Surpulus 'tis named, and from it looked
Afar, for that great enemy I sought.
First I looked north, and saw the blasted plains,
Those once-green fields where men did fight their wars,
Until they passed from green to black and bare,
Where now even the cockroaches hath died.
Then turned I to the west, and there I saw
The shining tow'rs and mighty buttresses
Of cities in which dwelt the far-off kings
That built their kingdoms up to lofty skies.
And eastward then I looked, and I percieved
The gleaming, jagged pinnacles of ice
Which lie across the seas of furious storms,
Where many ships have sunk beneath the waves.
Then to the south I cast my sharp-eyed gaze,
O'er misty fields and cities of renown,
Past forests deep and lands I did not know,
And found at last what I had sought so long.
A brooding castle, of appearance dark
And evil; not a ray of shining sun
Did pierce the looming clouds which over it
Cast now their twilit shadows dark and deep.
And in the highest tower of that keep
Saw I a monstrous form, of darkness spawned;
Black was its colour; had I stood before't,
Three times man's height o'er me it would have loomed.
Its teeth, its claws, of razor-sharpness were,
Its hide of thickness great, like armour dark,
Its eyes with baleful fire shone like coals
Plucked from the fiery pits of deepest Hell.
And then I knew 'twas southward I must go.
Then climbed I down from lofty Surpulus,
And toward the south I turned my face and will,
For southward lay the ending of my quest,
That evil nightmare which had cursed my sleep.
Through deserts wide and plains where no man dwelt,
In trackless forests, deep and evil dark,
Past creatures of a dark and awful get,
I shaped my course, but always to the south.
At last the mighty castle towered close,
Its gates were formed of metal black as night,
And fastened with a lock of cunning type;
Such gates of mighty strength I'd never pass.
But then I drew a thin, strong woven cord
From out the pocket of my golden cape,
And fastened to its end a slender hook
And cast it up, to catch upon the stone.
Then I swarmed up this rope of woven silk
Up toward the very top of that great wall -
A dreadful height, indeed, it seemed a league -
And lighted soundlessly upon the stones.
Then through the dark and silent keep I walked,
With bated breath and with a soundless tread
Until I came at last to the dark door
Behind which lay my foe in slumber deep.
Then did I draw my sword from out its sheath
Bright Nimlion, of finest vorpal forged
And with a last and shudd'ring indrawn breath
I rushed upon the foe I'd sought so long.
He woke, and terrible then was the sound
Our battle made; it echoed far and wide;
Across the empty plains and forests deep,
The clash of arms and claws and teeth did sound.
For truly had I met at last my match,
This monstrous beast which crouched before me there,
And lashing out with claws and teeth it gave
A roaring cry which chilled my very blood.
Yet falter did I not! I stood my ground,
And bravely gave as good as I had got;
His claws and teeth did scrape upon my shield,
As with my sword I slashed and stabbed his hide.
Backward and forth, to left and right we fought
The battle raged throughout the castle deep,
Now standing forth, now falling back again,
Another battle such will never pass.
It seemed an age we fought each other there,
And both did know that never should it cease
Until one did the other overcome
And strike him down into the dusty earth.
Then with my sword I slashed upon his thigh
And made his blood to flow - 'twas black as night;
I wounded him, yet even then his claws
Did slash open my side, a wound most deep.
Then as the bright red blood poured splashing forth,
I felt my strength give way, my vision fade,
My fingers loosed, my sword fell with a clang
And all seemed lost, and black was my despair.
Then suddenly remember'd I most clear,
As if it had been only yesterday,
The vial which thou gavest me, of milk,
And I had used it not, it still was full.
Then with what seemed the last breath of my life,
I drew it forth from inner pocket deep
And, drawing out the cork with jaws and teeth,
I cast it full into the foebeast's face.
Then roared he loud, and with that sound my strength
Came rushing back, as swiftly as it left;
My sword I took, and hacked and hewed at him
Till cold and dead his head rolled on the ground.
The head I took to show to thee as proof
Of my conquest, and then I exited,
That castle dark, and on it turned my back,
No more to fight, for vanquished was the foe.
And then, the light of vict'ry in my eyes
I set my course for home. And here I stand
Before you, in this hall of great renown,
To tell you of my exploits far and wide.
This head do thou behold; evil it looks
And awful was the body that it crowned,
For truly 'twas a demon taken flesh,
That beast whose life I took, in southern lands.
And now I have told all, judge thou thyselves
The truth of this tale I have spake to thee.
)
