WESSELENYI

When madly raged religious war

O'er all the Magyar land

And royal archer and hussar

Met foemen hand to hand,

A princess fair in castle strong

The royal troops defied

And bravely held her fortress long

Though help was all denied.

Princess Maria was her name —

Brave daughter nobly sired;

She caught her father's trusty sword

When bleeding he expired,

And bravely rallied warders all

To meet the storming foe,

And hurled them from the rampart-wall

Upon the crags below.

Prince Casimir — her father — built

Murana high and wide;

It sat among the mountain cliffs —

The Magyars’ boast and pride.

Bold Wesselenyi — stalwart knight,

Young, famed and wondrous fair,

With a thousand men besieged the height,

And led the bravest there.

And long he tried the arts of war

To take that castle-hold,

Till many a proud and plumed hussar

Was lying stiff and cold;

And still the frowning castle stood

A grim, unbroken wall,

Like some lone rock in stormy seas

That braves the billows all.

Bold Wesselenyi's cheeks grew thin;

A solemn oath he sware

That if he failed the prize to win

His bones should molder there.

Two toilsome months had worn away,

Two hundred men were slain,

His bold assaults were baffled still,

And all his arts were vain.

But love is mightier than the sword,

He clad him in disguise —

In the dress of an inferior lord —

To win the noble prize.

He bade his armed men to wait,

To cease the battle-blare

And sought alone the castle-gate

To hold a parley there.

Aloft a flag of truce he bore:

Her warders bade him pass;

Within he met the princess fair

All clad in steel and brass.

Her bright, black eyes and queenly art,

Sweet lips and raven hair,

Smote bold young Wesselenyi's heart

While he held parley there.

Cunning he talked of great reward

And royal favor, too,

If she would yield her father's sword;

She sternly answered “No.”

But even while they parleyed there

Maria's lustrous eyes

Looked tenderly and lovingly

On the chieftain in disguise.

“Go tell your gallant chief,” she said,

“To keep his paltry pelf;

The knight who would my castle win,

Must dare to come himself.”

And forth she sternly bade him go,

But followed with her eyes.

I ween she knew the brave knight well

Through all his fair disguise.

But when had dawned another morn,

He bade his bugleman

To sound again the parley-horn

Ere yet the fray began.

And forth he sent a trusty knight

To seek the castle-gate

And to the princess privately

His message to relate;—

That he it was who in disguise

Her warders bade to pass,

And while he parleyed there her eyes

Had pierced his plates of brass.

His heart he offered and his hand,

And pledged a signet-ring

If she would yield her brave command

Unto his gracious king.

“Go tell your chief,” Maria cried —

“Audacious as he is —

If he be worthy such a bride

My castle and hand are his.

But he should know that lady fair

By faint heart ne'er was won;

So let your gallant chieftain, sir,

Come undisguised alone.

“And he may see in the northern tower,

Over yonder precipice,

A lone, dim light at the midnight hour

Shine down the dark abyss.

And over the chasm's dungeon-gloom

Shall a slender ladder hang;

And if alone he dare to come,—

Unarmed — without a clang,

“More of his suit your chief shall hear

Perhaps may win the prize;

Tell him the way is hedged with fear,—

One misstep and he dies.

Nor will I pledge him safe retreat

From out yon guarded tower;

My watchful warders all to cheat

May be beyond my power.”

At midnight's dark and silent hour

The tall and gallant knight

Sought on the cliff the northern tower,

And saw the promised light.

With toil he climbed the cragged cliff,

And there the ladder found;

And o'er the yawning gulf he clomb

The ladder round by round.

And as he climbed the ladder bent

Above the yawning deep,

But bravely to the port he went

And entered at a leap

Full twenty warders thronged the hall

Each with his blade in hand;

They caught the brave knight like a thrall

And bound him foot and hand.

They tied him fast to an iron ring,

At Maria's stern command,

And then they jeered — “God save the king

And all his knightly band!”

They bound a bandage o'er his eyes,

Then the haughty princess said:

“Audacious knight, I hold a prize,—

My castle or your head!

“Now, mark!— desert the king's command,

And join your sword with mine,

And thine shall be my heart and hand,

This castle shall be thine.

I grant one hour for thee to choose,

My bold and gallant lord;

And if my offer you refuse

You perish by the sword!”

He spoke not a word, but his face was pale

And he prayed a silent prayer;

But his heart was oak and it could not quail,

And a secret oath he sware.

And grim stood the warders armed all,

In the torches’ flicker and flare,

As they watch for an hour in the gloomy hall

The brave knight pinioned there.

The short — the flying hour is past,

The warders have bared his breast;

The bugler bugles a doleful blast;

Will the pale knight stand the test?

He has made his choice — he will do his part,

He has sworn and he cannot lie,

And he cries with the sword at his beating heart,—

“Betray?— nay — better to die!”

Suddenly fell from his blue eyes

The silken, blinding bands,

And while he looked in sheer surprise

They freed his feet and hands.

“I give thee my castle,” Maria cried,

“And I give thee my heart and hand,

And Maria will be the proudest bride

In all this Magyar land.

“Grant heaven that thou be true to me

As thou art to the king,

And I'll bless the day I gave to thee

My castle for a ring.”

The red blood flushed to the brave knight's face

As he looked on the lady fair;

He sprang to her arms in a fond embrace,

And he married her then and there.

So the little blind elf with his feathered shaft

Did more than the sword could do,

For he conquered and took with his magical craft

Her heart and her castle, too.