But ere it fell, two thundering blows Upon his scull descend;

From Ursine's knotty club they came, Who ran to save his friend.

Down sunk the giant gaping wide,
And rolling his grim eyes;
The hairy youth repeats his blows;
He gasps, he groans, he dies.

Quickly Sir Valentine revived

With Ursine's timely care;

And now to search the castle walls
The venturous youths repair.

The blood and bones of murdered knights
They found where'er they came;

At length within a lonely cell
They saw a mournful dame.

Her gentle eyes were dimmed with tears; Her cheeks were pale with woe;

And long Sir Valentine besought

Her doleful tale to know.

"Alas! young knight," she weeping said, "Condole my wretched fate; A childless mother here you see; A wife without a mate.

These twenty winters here forlorn
I've drawn my hated breath;
Sole witness of a monster's crimes,

And wishing aye for death.

Know, I am sister of a king,
And in my early years
Was married to a mighty prince,

The fairest of his peers.

With him I sweetly lived in love
A twelvemonth and a day;
When, lo! a foul and treacherous priest
Y-wrought our loves' decay.

His seeming goodness won him power,
He had his master's ear,
And long to me and all the world
He did a saint appear.

One day, when we were all alone,
He proffered odious love;
The wretch with horror I repulsed,
And from my presence drove.

He feigned remorse, and piteous begged
His crime I'd not reveal;
Which, for his seeming penitence
I promised to conceal.

With treason, villainy, and wrong,

My goodness he repayed;

With jealous doubts he filled my lord,
And me to woe betrayed;

He hid a slave within my bed,

Then raised a bitter cry.

My lord, possessed with rage, condemned Me, all unheard, to die.

But, 'cause I then was great with child
At length my life he spared;
But bade me instant quit the realm,
One trusty knight my guard.

Forth on my journey I depart,

Oppressed with grief and woe,

And tow'rds my brother's distant court, With breaking heart, I go.

Long time thro' sundry foreign lands

We slowly pace along;

At length, within a forest wild,

I fell in labor strong:

And while the knight for succor sought,

And left me there forlorn,

My childbed pains so fast increast
Two lovely boys were born.

The eldest fair and smooth, as snow
That tips the mountain hoar;

The younger's little body rough

With hair was covered o'er.

But here afresh begin my woes:
While tender care I took

To shield my eldest from the cold,
And wrap him in my cloak,

A prowling bear burst from the wood,
And seized my younger son;
Affection lent my weakness wings
And after them I run.

But all forewearied, weak and spent,

I quickly swooned away;

And there beneath the greenwood shade

Long time I lifeless lay.