"How they'll greet us!"—and all in a moment his roan Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a stone; And there was my Roland to bear the whole. weight 45 Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate, With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim, And with circles of red for his eye sockets' rim.

Then I cast loose my buffcoat, each holster let fall,
Shook off both my jack boots, let go belt and all,
Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear,
Called my Roland his pet name, my horse without peer;
Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad
or good,

Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood.

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55

And all I remember is-friends flocking round
As I sat with his head 'twixt my knees on the ground;
And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine,
As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine,
Which (the burgesses voted by common consent)
Was no more than his due who brought good news 60
from Ghent.

GLOSSARY. Postern; pique; spume-flakes; buffcoat; holster; jack boats; burgesses.

The pronunciation of the names of the cities and towns mentioned may be approximated as follows: Ghent = gent; Aix=āks; Lokeren = lo'ker en; Boom - bōm; Duffeld = dü'fěl'; Mecheln = měk'lin; Aershot =är'shot; Hasselt häs'ĕlt; Looz =lōz; Tongres = tôn'gr'; Dalhem = däl'ěm.

STUDY. From reading the poem can you gather the nature of the good news conveyed by the three riders? Is the poem

concerned mainly with news or with the horse Roland? What does Joris's statement in stanza 3, "Yet there is time," tell you about the need for haste? Notice, step by step, the incidents of the ride. What points center the attention on Roland? Are you pleased with the official action indicated in the last stanza? Explain line 15.

5

10

THE TRUMPETS OF DOOLKARNEIN

LEIGH HUNT

With awful walls, far glooming, that possess'd

The passes 'twixt the snow-fed Caspian fountains, Doolkarnein, the dread lord of East and West,

Shut up the northern nations in their mountains; . And upon platforms where the oak trees grew, Trumpets he set, huge beyond dreams of wonder, Craftily purpos'd, when his arms withdrew,

To make him thought still hous'd there, like the thunder;

And it so fell; for when the winds blew right,

They woke the trumpets to their calls of might.

Unseen, but heard, their calls the trumpets blew,
Ringing the granite rocks, their only bearers,
Till the long fear into religion grew,

And never more those heights had human darers. 15 Dreadful Doolkarnein was an earthly god;

His walls but shadow'd forth his mightier frowning; Armies of giants at his bidding trod

From realm to realm, king after king discrowning.

When thunder spoke, or when the earthquake stirr'd, Then, muttering in accord, his host was heard.

But when the winters marr'd the mountain shelves,
And softer changes came with vernal mornings,
Something had touch'd the trumpets' lofty selves,
And less and less rang forth their sovereign warn-
ings:

Fewer and feebler; as when silence spreads

In plague-struck tents, where haughty chiefs, left

dying,

Fail by degrees upon their angry beds,

Till, one by one, ceases the last stern sighing.

One by one, thus, their breath the trumpets drew,
Till now no more the imperious music blew.

Is he then dead? Can great Doolkarnein die?
Or can his endless hosts elsewhere be needed?
Were the great breaths that blew his minstrelsy
Phantoms, that faded as himself receded?
Or is he anger'd? Surely he still comes;
This silence ushers the dread visitation;
Sudden will burst the torrent of his drums,
And then will follow bloody desolation.

So did fear dream; though now, with not a sound
To scare good hope, summer had twice crept round.

Then gather'd in a band, with lifted eyes,

The neighbors, and those silent heights ascended. Giant, nor aught blasting their bold emprise,

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25

80

85

40

They met, though twice they halted, breath suspended:

45 Once, at a coming like a god's in rage

With thunderous leaps; but 'twas the piled snow, falling;

And once, when in the woods an oak, for age,

Fell dead, the silence with its groan appalling. At last they came where still, in dread array,

60 As though they still might speak, the trumpets lay.

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60

Unhurt they lay, like caverns above ground,

The rifted rocks, for hands, about them clinging, Their tubes as straight, their mighty mouths as round And firm, as when the rocks were first set ringing. Fresh from their unimaginable mold

They might have seem'd, save that the storms had stain'd them

With a rich rust, that now, with gloomy gold

In the bright sunshine, beauteously ingrain'd them. Breathless the gazers look'd, nigh faint for awe, Then leap'd, then laugh'd. What was it now they saw?

Myriads of birds. Myriads of birds, that fill'd The trumpets all with nests and nestling voices! The great, huge, stormy music had been still'd

By the soft needs that nurs'd those small, sweet noises!

65 O thou Doolkarnein, where is now thy wall?

Where now thy voice divine and all thy forces?

Myriads of birds, that fill'd

The trumpets all with nests and nestling voices!

Great was thy cunning, but its wit was small

Compar'd with Nature's least and gentlest courses. Fears and false creeds may fright the realms awhile; But Heaven and Earth abide their time, and smile. 70

GLOSSARY. Glooming; Caspian fountains; Doolkarnein; craftily: discrowning; minstrelsy; phantoms; appalling; rifted. STUDY. What scheme did Doolkarnein hit upon for keeping his foes in fear of him? What does stanza 2 tell you of its success? Explain line 13. What change took place with each successive spring? How does stanza 4 indicate the difficulty with which the people threw off their superstitious fear? When the gazers found the trumpets, why did they leap and laugh? Study carefully the meaning of the last four lines.