some modern trills may oft
Caper through the ancient theme.

"Spite of waywardness thou'lt find
Here and there a note of pain...."

_Let their ears seek to catch these painful notes. Let their eyes
accustom themselves to the deceitful light of the moon; let them
endeavour to pierce through the romanticism on the surface to the
underlying meaning of the poem.... A little patience and we shall see
clearly...._

_Atta Troll, the dancing bear, is the representative of the people. He
has--by means of the French Revolution, of course--broken his fetters
and escaped to the freedom of the mountains. Here he indulges in that
familiar ranting of a_ sansculotte, _his heart and mouth brimming over
with what Heine calls_ frecher Gleichheitsschwindel _("the barefaced
swindle of equality"). His hatred is above all directed against the
masters from whose bondage he has just escaped, that is to say against
all mankind as a race. As a "true and noble bear" he simply detests
these human beings with their superior airs and impudent smiles, those
arrogant wretches, who fancy themselves something lofty, because they
eat cooked meat and know a few tricks and sciences. Animals, if properly
trained, if only equality of opportunity were given to them, could
learn these tricks just as well--there is therefore no earthly reason
why_

_"these men,_
_Cursed arch-aristocrats,_
_Should with haughty insolence_
_Look upon the world of beasts."_

_The beasts, so Atta Troll declares, ought not to allow themselves to be
treated in this wise. They ought to combine amongst themselves, for it
is only by means of proper union that the requisite degree of strength
can ever be attained. After the establishment of this powerful union
they should try to enforce their programme and demand the abolition of
private property and of human privileges:_

_"And its first great law shall be_
_For God's creatures one and all_
_Equal rights--no matter what_
_Be their faith, or hide, or smell,_

_"Strict equality! Each ass_
_May become Prime Minister,_
_On the other hand the lion_
_Shall bear corn unto the mill."_

_This outrageous diatribe of the freed slave cuts deeply into the poet's
heart. He, the poet, does not believe in equal, but in the "holy inborn"
rights of men, the rights of valid birth, the rights of the man of
[Greek: harethe]. He, the poet, the admirer of Napoleon, believes
in