Wesselenyi - A Hungarian Tale

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.