k he;
The giant goblet carved in ice he handed then to me.

I seized the beaker in my hand, and raised it to my lip;
And cautiously I tasted it, although 'twas but a sip.
I laid the crystal down in haste, as horrified I stood.
The liquor that the goblet held I found was _human blood_!

The King of Ice he marvelled, and his brow grew grave and stern,
His eye would seem to ask me, "Dost thou thus my favour spurn?"
I trembled, for I noticed when the icy monarch frowned
The reflection of his countenance upon the court around.

Each drew a pointed icicle from out an icy sheath,
They wore as daggers at their sides--for fear I scarce could breathe--
And brandishing them high aloft, while as their hands they clenched,
They vowed that such gross insult should not pass unavenged.

"Ho! sheath your daggers," quoth the king. "Once more our guest
we'll try.
Base mortal! if thou still refuse to drain yon goblet dry,
Then dread our fell displeasure, for by our crown we vow,
The King of Glaciers ne'er is mocked by mortals such as thou."

I seized the goblet once again, and in despair did quaff.
Now through the banquet hall resounds a wild unearthly laugh.
The nauseous fluid seemed to burn like fire through my veins
I felt intoxication stealing o'er me for my pains.

I fell down in a stupor, know not how long I lay,
But when my eyes were opened 'twas past the break of day.
The King and court had vanished, but around me I descried
A troop of tourists, who that morn the glaciers would bestride.

They asked me how I came there, how I could be so mad,
Alone to scale the glaciers, upon a night so bad.
I told them shortly all my tale--all I had got to tell--
About the awful Glacier King, down in his icy cell.

They smiled, and said it truly was a very fearful _dream_;
But I vowed all that had happened like truth to me did seem.
They asked me to point out to them the grotto that I saw.
I gazed around me, and behold the grotto was no more.

Whether it was dream or not, I know not to this day;
'Tis strange the grotto in a night should all have thawed away.
And when I spoke about the cup I quaffed the cave beneath,
"_That was my brandy-flask_," quoth one, "_I forced between your
teeth_."

"Else you had perished in the snow, in truth, you looked far gone.