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Pumpurs, Andrejs, 1841-1902

"Bearslayer A free translation from the unrhymed Latvian into English heroic verse"

"
"This youngster now I do desire to take
To dwell with me inside my castle gate.
For if he venture from the sacred lake,
To turn at once to stone will be his fate.
But in my Crystal Palace he can bide,
In human form the bloom of youth to see,
There, raised to safety from the river's tide,
To live his life in harmony with me."
Stern Tikla chaste, with strict words ever rife,
Spoke thus, fair Staburadze to berate:
"Perhaps to have eternal godly life
Our sister now does judge a tedious fate.
She does not wish so long alone to mourn
And wash the cliff with flood of bitter tears.
She wants the youth of human parents born,
And with him yearns to spend the passing years."
Though Staburadze blushed at Tikla's word,
She did not yield nor shrink back from the blow.
"You err, stern Tikla, make a charge absurd.
The circumstances clear and plainly show,
The youth is not a normal mortal man.
I want to keep this lad with me alive,
That, chosen by the gods, his life's whole span
He will against the powers of darkness strive.


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