Ganelon of Mainz, betrayed.

Oh! that noblest trait in bears--
Conjugal affection--love--
Formed a pitfall which Uraka
In her evil craft prepared.

For so truly mimicked she
Coal-black Mumma's tender growls,
That poor Atta Troll was lured
From the safety of his lair.

On desire's wings he ran
Through the valley, halting oft
By a rock with tender sniff,
Thinking Mumma there lay hid.

There Lascaro lay, alas,
With his rifle. Swift he shot
Through that gladsome heart a ball,
And a crimson stream welled forth.

Twice or thrice he shakes his head
To and fro, at last he sinks
Groaning, seized with ghastly shudders;--
"Mumma!" is his final sob!

Thus our noble hero fell--
Perished thus. Immortal he
Yet shall live in strains of bards,
Resurrected after death.

He shall rise again in song,
And his wide renown shall stalk
In this blunt trochaic verse
O'er the round and living Earth.

In Valhalla's Hall a shaft
Shall King Ludwig build for him,--
In Bavarian lapidary
Style these words be there inscribed:

ATTA TROLL, REFORMER, PURE,
PIOUS: HUSBAND WARM AND TRUE,
BY THE ZEIT-GEIST LED ASTRAY--
WOOD-ENGENDERED SANS-CULOTTE:

DANCING BADLY: YET IDEALS
BEARING IN HIS SHAGGY BREAST:
OFTTIMES STINKING VERY STRONGLY,
TALENT NONE: BUT CHARACTER.

[Illustration]

CANTO XXV

Three-and-thirty wrinkled dames,
Wearing on their heads their Basque
Scarlet hoods of ancient style,
Stood beside the village gate.

One of them, like Deborah,
Beat the tambourine and danced
While she sang a hymn in praise
Of the slayer of the bear.

Four strong men in triumph bore
Slaughtered Atta, who erect
In his wicker litter sat
Like some patient at a spa.

To the rear, like relatives
Of the dead, Lascaro came
With Uraka, who abashed,
Nodded to the right and left.

Then the town-clerk at the hall
Spoke as the procession came
To a halt. Of many things
Spoke that dapper little man.

As, for instance, of the rise
Of the navy, of the Press,
Of the sugar-beet debates,
And that hydra, party strife.

All the feats of Louis Philippe
Vaunted he unto the skies,--
Of Lascaro then