XXVIII "We our pavilions pitch, and, 'mid those groves, Joyfully strain our awnings overhead; And kitchens there construct, and rustic stoves, And carpets for the intended banquet spread. Meanwhile through neighbouring vale the monarch roves, And secret wood, scarce pervious to the tread, Seeking red deer, goat, fallow-buck, and doe; And, following him, two servants bear his bow. XXIX "While, with much solace, seated in a round, We from the chace expect our lord's return, Approaching us along the shore, astound, The orc, that fearful monster, we discern. God grant, fair sir, he never may confound Your eyesight with his semblance foul and stern! Better it is of him by fame to hear, Than to behold him by approaching near. XXX "To calculate the griesly monster's height, (So measureless is he) exceeds all skill; Of fungus-hue, in place of orbs of sight, Their sockets two small bones like berries fill. Towards us, as I say, he speeds outright Along the shore, and seems a moving hill. Tusks jutting out like savage swine he shows, A breast with drivel foul, and pointed nose. XXXI "Running, the monster comes, and bears his snout In guise of brach, who enters on the trail. We who behold him fly (a helpless rout), Wherever terror drives, with visage pale. 'Tis little comfort, that he is without Eye-sight, who winds his plunder in the gale, Better than aught possest of scent and sight: And wing and plume were needed for our flight. XXXII "Some here, some there make off, but little gain By flying him; for swifter is the pest Than the south wind. Of forty, ten, with pain, Swimming aboard the bark in safety rest. Under his arm some wretches of our train He packed, nor empty left his lap or breast: And loaded a capacious scrip beside, Which, like a shepherd's, to his waist was tied. XXXIII "Us to his den the sightless monster carried, Hollowed within a rock, upon the shore; Of snowy marble was that cavern quarried, As white as leaf, unstained by inky score. With him within the cave a matron tarried, Who marked by grief and pain a visage wore. With her were wife and maid, a numerous court, Both fair and foul, of every age and sort. XXXIV "Large as the other, and that grotto near, Almost upon the summit of the rock, Another cavern was contrived, to rear, And from the weather fend his woolly flock, Which he still herded through the changeful year; So numerous, it were hard to count his stock: Wont in due season these to pen or loose, And play the shepherd more for sport than use.