"His castle old and marvellous, From seas unfathomed o'er him closing, Stood firm, and ever standeth thus, Escape to upper air opposing; An inner spell in secret thrall The vassals of the realm is holding, And clouds, like triumph-flags unfolding, Are gathered round the rocky wall. "Lo, an innumerable race Before the barred portals lying; And each the trusty servant plays, The ears of men so blandly plying. So men are lured the king to gain, Divining not that they are captured; But thus by specious longing raptured, Forget the hidden cause of pain. "But few are cunning and awake, Nor ever for his treasures pining; And these assiduous efforts make, The ancient castle undermining. The mighty spell's primeval tie True insight's hand alone can sever; If so the Inmost opens ever, The dawn of freedom's day is nigh. "To toil the firmest wall is sand, To courage no abyss unsounded; Who trusteth in his heart and hand, Seeks for the king with zeal unbounded. He brings him from his secret hill, The spirit foes by spirits quelling, Masters the torrents madly swelling, And makes them follow at his will. "The more the king appears in sight, And freely round the earth is flowing, The more diminishes his might, The more the free in number growing. At length dissolves that olden spell,-- And through the castle void careering, Us homeward is the ocean bearing Upon its gentle, azure swell." Just as the old man ended, it struck Henry that he had somewhere heard that song. He asked him to repeat it and wrote it down. The old man then departed, and the merchants conversed with the other guests on the pleasures and hardships of mining. One said "I don't believe the old man is here without some object. He has been climbing to-day among the hills, and has doubtless discovered good signs. We will ask him when he comes in again." "See here," said another, "we might ask him to hunt up a well for our village. Good water is far off, and a well would be right welcome to us." "It occurs to me," said a third, "that I might ask him to take with him one of my sons, who has already filled the house with stones. The youngster would certainly make an able miner, and the old man seems honest, and one who would bring him up in the way he should go."