StoryTitle("caps", "The Skeleton in Armor") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(96, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Speak! speak! thou fearful guest! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who, with thy hollow breast", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Still in rude armor drest, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Comest to daunt me! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wrapt not in Eastern balms, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But with thy fleshless palms ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Stretched, as if asking alms, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Why dost thou haunt me?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then from those cavernous eyes ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Pale flashes seemed to rise,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As when the Northern skies ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Gleam in December; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, like the water's flow ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Under December's snow, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Came a dull voice of woe ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "From the heart's chamber.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"I was a Viking old!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My deeds, though manifold, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No Skald in song has told, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "No Saga taught thee! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Take heed, that in thy verse ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thou dost the tale rehearse, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Else dread a dead man's curse; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "For this I sought thee.", "") ?>
PagePoem(97, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Far in the Northern Land, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "By the wild Baltic's strand, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I, with my childish hand, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Tamed the gerfalcon;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, with my skates fast bound, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Skimmed the half-frozen Sound, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That the poor whimpering hound ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Trembled to walk on.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Oft to his frozen lair ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Tracked I the grisly bear, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "While from my path the hare", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Fled like a shadow; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Oft through the forest dark ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Followed the werewolf's bark, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Until the soaring lark", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Sang from the meadow.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"But when I older grew, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Joining a corsair's crew, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O'er the dark sea I flew", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "With the marauders. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wild was the life we led; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Many the souls that sped, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Many the hearts that bled, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "By our stern orders.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Many a wassail bout ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wore the long Winter out;", "") ?>
PagePoem(98, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Often our midnight shout ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Set the cocks crowing, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As we the Berserk's tale ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Measured in cups of ale, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Draining the oaken pail ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Filled to o'erflowing.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Once as I told in glee ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Tales of the stormy sea, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Soft eyes did gaze on me,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Burning yet tender ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And as the white stars shine ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On the dark Norway pine,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On that dark heart of mine ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Fell their soft splendor.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"I wooed the blue-eyed maid, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Yielding, yet half afraid, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And in the forest's shade", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Our vows were plighted. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Under its loosened vest ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fluttered her little breast, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Like birds within their nest ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "By the hawk frighted.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Bright in her father's hall ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Shields gleamed upon the wall, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Loud sang the minstrels all, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Chanting his glory.", "") ?>
PagePoem(99, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When of old Hildebrand", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I asked his daughter's hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Mute did the minstrels stand ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "To hear my story.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"While the brown ale he quaffed, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Loud then the champion laughed, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And as the wind gusts waft", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", " The sea foam brightly, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", " So the loud laugh of scorn, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", " Out of those lips unshorn, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", " From the deep drinking horn ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", " Blew the foam lightly.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"She was a Prince's child, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I was a Viking wild,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And though she blushed and smiled, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "I was discarded!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Should not the dove so white ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Follow the sea mew's flight? ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Why did they leave that night ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Her nest unguarded?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Scarce had I put to sea, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bearing the maid with me,—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fairest of all was she", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", " Among the Norsemen!—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", " When on the white sea strand, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", " Waving his armèd hand,", "") ?>
PagePoem(100, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saw we old Hildebrand ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "With twenty horsemen.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Then launched they to the blast, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bent like a reed each mast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Yet we were gaining fast, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "When the wind failed us; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And with a sudden flaw ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Came round the gusty Skaw, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So that our foe we saw ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Laugh as he hailed us.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"And as to catch the gale ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Round veered the flapping sail, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'Death!' was the helmsman's hail,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "'Death without quarter!' ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Midships with iron keel ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Struck we her ribs of steel; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Down her black hulk did reel ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Through the black water!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"As with his wings aslant, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sails the fierce cormorant, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Seeking some rocky haunt,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", " With his prey laden, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", " So toward the open main, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", " Beating to sea again, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", " Through the wild hurricane, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", " Bore I the maiden.", "") ?>
PagePoem(101, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Three weeks we westward bore, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when the storm was o'er, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cloudlike we saw the shore", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Stretching to leeward! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There for my lady's bower ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Built I the lofty tower ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Which to this very hour ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Stands looking seaward.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"There lived we many years; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Time dried the maiden's tears; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She had forgot her fears,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "She was a mother;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Death closed her mild blue eyes; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Under that tower she lies; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ne'er shall the sun arise", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "On such another!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Still grew my bosom then, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Still as a stagnant fen! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Hateful to me were men,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "The sunlight hateful! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In the vast forest here,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Clad in my warlike gear, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fell I upon my spear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Oh, death was grateful!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Thus, seamed with many scars, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bursting these prison bars,", "") ?>
PagePoem(102, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Up to its native stars ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "My soul ascended! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There from the flowing bowl, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Deep drinks the warrior's soul, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Skoal! to the Northland! skoal!\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L3", "", "Thus the tale ended. ", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("85", SmallCapsText("—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>