Knightly in arms he was; one grievous blot, So deem'd full many a courtly dame, I wot, Cross'd the full growth of his aspiring days, And dimm'd the lustre of meridian praise: With bootless artifice their lures they troll'd; Still, Gugemer lov'd not, or nothing told. The court's accustom'd love and service done, To his glad sire returns the welcome son. Now with his father dwelt he, and pursued Such pastimes as are meet for youth of noble blood. The woods of Leon now would shrilly sound Oft with his joyous shout and choral hound At length, one morn his disadventurous dart, Lanc'd, as the game was rous'd, at hind or hart, Wing'd through the yielding air its weetless way, And pierc'd unwares a metamorphos'd fay. Lo! back recoiling straight, by fairy craft, Back to its master speeds the reeking shaft; Deep in his sinewy thigh inflicts a wound, And strikes the astonish'd hunter to the ground, While, with a voice which neither bray'd nor spoke, Thus fearfully the beast her silence broke:-- "Pains, agonizing pains must thou endure, Till wit of lady's love shall work the cure: Wo, then, her fated guerdon she shall find The heaviest that may light on womankind!" Sir Gugemer, who strove, with courage vain, Up from the earth to rise, distraught with pain, While hies his varlet home for succour strong, Crawls slow with trailing limb the sward along; 'Twas part precipitate, steep rocky shore; Hoarse at its foot was heard old Ocean's roar; And in a shelter'd cove at anchor rode, Close into land, where slept the solemn flood, A gallant bark, that with its silken sails Just bellying, caught the gently rising gales, And from its ebon sides shot dazzling sheen Of silvery rays with mingled gold between. A favouring fairy had beheld the blow Dealt the young hunter by her mortal foe: Thence grown his patroness, she vows to save, And cleaves with magick help the sparkling wave: Now, by a strange resistless impulse driven, The knight assays the lot by fortune given: Lo, now he climbs, with fairy power to aid, The bark's steep side, on silken cordage stay'd; Gains the smooth deck, and, wonders to behold, A couch of cypress spread with cloth of gold, While from above, with many a topaz bright, Two golden globes sent forth their branching light: And longer had he gaz'd, but sleep profound, Wrought by the friendly fairy, wrapt him round. Stretch'd on the couch the hunter lies supine, And the swift bark shoots lightly o'er the brine. For, where the distant prospect fading dies, And sea and land seem mingling with the skies, A massy tower of polish'd marble rose; There dwelt the fair physician of his woes: Nogiva was the name the princess bore; Her spouse old, shrewd, suspicious evermore,