with lustrous eyes,
Where all the stars in light are dwelling,
They faithfully the king apprize,
And never are they tired of telling.
He bathes himself within their flood,
So daintily his members washing,
And all his light again is flashing
Throughout his mother's[2] paly blood.

"His castle old and marvellous,
From seas unfathomed o'er him closing,
Stood firm, and ever standeth thus,
Escape to upper air opposing;
An inner spell in secret thrall
The vassals of the realm is holding,
And clouds, like triumph-flags unfolding,
Are gathered round the rocky wall.

"Lo, an innumerable race
Before the barred portals lying;
And each the trusty servant plays,
The ears of men so blandly plying.
So men are lured the king to gain,
Divining not that they are captured;
But thus by specious longing raptured,
Forget the hidden cause of pain.

"But few are cunning and awake,
Nor ever for his treasures pining;
And these assiduous efforts make,
The ancient castle undermining.
The mighty spell's primeval tie
True insight's hand alone can sever;
If so the Inmost opens ever,
The dawn of freedom's day is nigh.

"To toil the firmest wall is sand,
To courage no abyss unsounded;
Who trusteth in his heart and hand,
Seeks for the king with zeal unbounded.
He brings him from his secret hill,
The spirit foes by spirits quelling,
Masters the torrents madly swelling,
And makes them follow at his will.

"The more the king appears in sight,
And freely round the earth is flowing,
The more diminishes his might,
The more the free in number growing.
At length dissolves that olden spell,--
And through the castle void careering,
Us homeward is the ocean bearing
Upon its gentle, azure swell."

Just as the old man ended, it struck Henry that he had somewhere heard
that song. He asked him to repeat it and wrote it down. The old man
then departed, and the merchants conversed with the other guests