Up sprang Paul, like one possess’d by madness; To the upper floor he hasten’d wildly; There his sister on her mats was sleeping, And the golden knife beneath her pillow. Swift he seized the golden knife,—and drew it— Drew it, panting, from its silver scabbard;— It was damp with blood—’twas red and gory! When the noble Paul saw this, he seized her,— Seized her by her own white hand, and cursed her: “Let the curse of God be on thee, sister! Thou didst murder, too, my favourite courser; Thou didst murder, too, my noble falcon; But thou should’st have spared the helpless baby.” Higher yet his sister swore, and louder— “’Twas not I, upon my life, my brother; On my life, and on thy life, I swear it! But if thou wilt disregard my swearing, Take me to the open fields—the desert; Bind thy sister to the tails of horses; Let four horses tear my limbs asunder.” But the brother trusted not his sister: Furiously he seized her white hand—bore her To the distant fields—the open desert: To the tails of four fierce steeds he bound her, And he drove them forth across the desert;— But, where’er a drop of blood fell from her, There a flower sprung up,—a fragrant flow’ret; Where her body fell when dead and mangled, There a church arose from out the desert. Little time was spent, ere fatal sickness Fell upon Paul’s youthful wife;—the sickness Nine long years lay on her,—heavy sickness! ’Midst her bones the matted dog-grass sprouted, And amidst it nestled angry serpents, Which, though hidden, drank her eyelight’s brightness. Then she mourn’d her misery—mourn’d despairing; Thus she spoke unto her lord and husband: “O convey me, Paul, my lord and husband! To thy sister’s church convey me swiftly; For that church, perchance, may heal and save me.” So, when Paul had heard his wife’s petition, To his sister’s church he swiftly bore her. Hardly had they reach’d the church’s portal, When a most mysterious voice address’d them: “Come not here, young woman! come not hither! For this church can neither heal nor save thee.” Bitter was her anguish when she heard it; And her lord the woman thus entreated: “In the name of God! my lord! my husband! Never, never bear me to our dwelling. Bind me to the wild steeds’ tails, and drive them; Drive them to the immeasurable desert; Let them tear my wretched limbs asunder.”