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Nought would the raging Tyger's strength avail If once involved within those mighty toils; The arm'd Rhinoceros, so clasp'd, in vain Had trusted to his hide of rugged mail, His bones all broken, and the breath of life Crush'd from the lungs, in that unequal strife. Again, and yet again, he sought to break The impassive limbs; but when the Monster found His utmost power was vain,

A moment he relax'd in every round, Then knit his coils again with closer strain, And, bearing forward, forced him to the ground.

16.

Ereenia groan'd in anguish at the sight Of this dread fight: once more the Glendoveer Essay'd to break his bonds, and fear

For that brave father who had sought him here,
Stung him to wilder strugglings. From the rock
He raised himself half up, with might and main
Pluck'd at the adamantine chain,

And now, with long and unrelaxing strain,
In obstinate effort of indignant strength,
Labour'd and strove in vain;

Till his immortal sinews fail'd at length;
And yielding, with an inward groan, to fate,
Despairingly, he let himself again

Fall prostrate on his prison-bed of stone,
Body and chain alike with lifeless weight.

17.

Struggling they lay in mortal fray

All day, while day was in our upper sphere,
For light of day

And natural darkness never entered here;
All night, with unabated might,
They waged the unremitting fight.
A second day, a second night,
With furious will they wrestled still.
The third came on, the fourth is gone;
Another comes, another goes,

And yet no respite, no repose!
But day and night, and night and day,
Involv'd in mortal strife they lay;
Six days and nights have pass'd away,
And still they wage, with mutual rage,
The unremitting fray.

With mutual rage their war they wage,
But not with mutual will;

For when the seventh morning came,
The monster's worn and wearied frame
In this strange contest fails;
And weaker, weaker, every hour,
He yields beneath strong Nature's power,
For now the Curse prevails.

18.

Sometimes the Beast sprung up to bear
His foe aloft; and trusting there

To shake him from his hold,

Relax'd the rings that wreath'd him round;

But on his throat Ladurlad hung
And weigh'd him to the ground;
And if they sink, or if they float,
Alike with stubborn clasp he clung,
Tenacious of his grasp;

For well he knew with what a power,
Exempt from Nature's laws,

The Curse had arm'd him for this hour;
And in the monster's gasping jaws,
And in his hollow eye,

Well could Ladurlad now descry
The certain signs of victory.

19.

And now the Beast no more can keep
His painful watch; his eyes, opprest,
Are fainting for their natural sleep;
His living flesh and blood must rest,
The Beast must sleep or die.
Then he, full faint and languidly,
Unwreathes his rings and strives to fly,
And still retreating, slowly trails
His stiff and heavy length of scales.
But that unweariable foe,

With will relentless follows still;
No breathing time, no pause of fight
He gives, but presses on his flight;
Along the vaulted chambers, and the ascent
Up to the emerald-tinted light of day,
He harasses his way,

Till lifeless, underneath his grasp,
The huge Sea-Monster lay.

20.

That obstinate work is done; Ladurlad cried,
One labour yet remains!

And thoughtfully he eyed
Ereenia's ponderous chains;

And with faint effort, half-despairing, tried The rivets deep in-driven. Instinctively, As if in search of aid, he look'd around: Oh, then how gladly, in the near alcove, Fallen on the ground its lifeless Lord beside, The crescent scymitar he spied,

Whose cloudy blade, with potent spells imbued, Had lain so many an age unhurt in solitude.

21.

Joyfully springing there

He seized the weapon, and with eager stroke Hew'd at the chain; the force was dealt in vain, For not as if through yielding air Pass'd the descending scymitar,

Its deaden'd way the heavy water broke ; Yet it bit deep. Again, with both his hands, He wields the blade, and dealt a surer blow. The baser metal yields

To that fine edge, and lo! the Glendoveer Rises and snaps the half-sever'd links, and stands Freed from his broken bands.

XVII.

BALY.

1.

THIS is the appointed night,
The night of joy and consecrated mirth,
When from his judgement-seat in Padalon,
By Yamen's throne,

Baly goes forth, that he may walk the Earth
Unseen, and hear his name

Still hymn'd and honour'd by the grateful voice
Of humankind, and in his fame rejoice.
Therefore from door to door, and street to street,
With willing feet,

Shaking their firebrands, the glad children run; Baly! great Baly! they acclaim,

Where'er they run they bear the mighty name, Where'er they meet,

Baly! great Baly! still their choral tongues repeat. Therefore at every door the votive flame Through pendant lanterns sheds its painted light, And rockets hissing upward through the sky, Fall like a shower of stars

From Heaven's black canopy.

Therefore, on yonder mountain's templed height, The brazen caldron blazes through the night.

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