9. The Asuras, often put to flight, {119} And scattered in the fields of light, By their foes' celestial might, Forged this enchanted armour for the fight. 'Mid fires intense did they anneal, In mountain furnaces, the quivering steel, Till trembling through each deepening hue, It settled in a midnight blue; Last they cast it, to aslake, In the penal icy lake. Then, they consign'd it to the Giant brood; And, while they forged the impenetrable arms, The Evil Powers, to oversee them, stood, And there imbued The work of Giant strength with magic charms. Foul Arvalan, with joy, survey'd The crescent sabre's cloudy blade, With deeper joy the impervious mail, The shield and helmet of avail. Soon did he himself array, And bade her speed him on his way. 10. Then she led him to the den, Where her chariot, night and day, {120} Stood harness'd, ready for the way. Two Dragons, yok'd in adamant, convey The magic car; from either collar sprung An adamantine rib, which met in air, O'er-arch'd, and crost, and bent diverging there, And firmly in its arc upbore, Upon their brazen necks, thereat of power. Arvalan mounts the car, and in his hand Receives the magic reins from Lorrinite; The dragons, long obedient to command, Their ample sails expand; Like steeds well-broken to fair lady's hand, They feel the reins of might, And up the northern sky begin their flight. 11. Son of the Wicked, doth thy soul delight To think its hour of vengeance now is nigh? Lo! where the far-off light Of Indra's palace flashes on his sight, And Meru's heavenly summit shines on high, With clouds of glory bright, Amid the dark-blue sky. Already, in his hope, doth he espy {121} Himself secure in mail of tenfold charms, Ereenia writhing from the magic blade, The Father sent to bear his Curse, . . . the Maid Resisting vainly in his impious arms. 12. Ah, Sinner! whose anticipating soul Incurs the guilt even when the crime is spar'd! Joyous toward Meru's summit on he far'd, While the twin Dragons, rising as he guides, With steady flight, steer northward for the pole. Anon, with irresistible controul, Force mightier far than his arrests their course; It wrought as though a Power unseen had caught Their adamantine yokes to drag them on. Straight on they bend their way, and now, in vain, Upward doth Arvalan direct the rein! The rein of magic might avails no more; Bootless its strength against that unseen Power Which, in their mid career, Hath seiz'd the Chariot and the Charioteer. With hands resisting, and down-pressing feet Upon their hold insisting, He struggles to maintain his difficult seat. {122} Seeking in vain with that strange Power to vie, Their doubled speed the affrighted Dragons try. Forced in a stream from whence was no retreat, Strong as they are, behold, them whirled along, Headlong, with useless pennons, through the sky.