Twice or thrice he shakes his head To and fro, at last he sinks Groaning, seized with ghastly shudders;-- "Mumma!" is his final sob! Thus our noble hero fell-- Perished thus. Immortal he Yet shall live in strains of bards, Resurrected after death. He shall rise again in song, And his wide renown shall stalk In this blunt trochaic verse O'er the round and living Earth. In Valhalla's Hall a shaft Shall King Ludwig build for him,-- In Bavarian lapidary Style these words be there inscribed: ATTA TROLL, REFORMER, PURE, PIOUS: HUSBAND WARM AND TRUE, BY THE ZEIT-GEIST LED ASTRAY-- WOOD-ENGENDERED SANS-CULOTTE: DANCING BADLY: YET IDEALS BEARING IN HIS SHAGGY BREAST: OFTTIMES STINKING VERY STRONGLY, TALENT NONE: BUT CHARACTER. [Illustration] CANTO XXV Three-and-thirty wrinkled dames, Wearing on their heads their Basque Scarlet hoods of ancient style, Stood beside the village gate. One of them, like Deborah, Beat the tambourine and danced While she sang a hymn in praise Of the slayer of the bear. Four strong men in triumph bore Slaughtered Atta, who erect In his wicker litter sat Like some patient at a spa. To the rear, like relatives Of the dead, Lascaro came With Uraka, who abashed, Nodded to the right and left. Then the town-clerk at the hall Spoke as the procession came To a halt. Of many things Spoke that dapper little man. As, for instance, of the rise Of the navy, of the Press, Of the sugar-beet debates, And that hydra, party strife. All the feats of Louis Philippe Vaunted he unto the skies,-- Of Lascaro then he spoke And his great heroic deed. "Thou Lascaro!" cried the clerk, As he mopped his streaming brow With his bright tri-coloured sash-- "Thou Lascaro! thou that hast "Freed Hispania and France From that monster Atta Troll, By both lands shalt be acclaimed the Pyreneean Lafayette!" When Lascaro in official Wise thus heard himself announced As a hero, then he smiled In his beard and blushed for joy. And in stammering syllables And in broken phrases he Stuttered forth his gratitude For the honour shown to him. Wonder-smitten then stood all At the unexpected sight, And in low and timid tones Thus the ancient women spoke: "Did you hear Lascaro laugh? Did you see Lascaro blush? Did you hear Lascaro speak? He the witch's perished son!" On that very day they flayed Atta Troll. At auction they Sold his hide. A furrier bid Just an even hundred francs. And the furrier decked the skin Handsomely, and mounted it All on scarlet. For this work He demanded twice the cost.