Page:Bohemian legends and other poems.djvu/30



In Kralovice, two hundred years,
 * The family of Kryspek sleep.

Within the family vault they lie,
 * And none can wake their slumbers deep.

Oh, listen to their banquet dread, For sure upon this earth ’tis said,
 * There never was a sadder meal;
 * Come listen to their bitter weal.

When the Bílá Hora battle,
 * Spite of all valor had been lost,

And the poor Bohemian country
 * Had to give itself up for lost,

Then the hangman’s business flourished, And the ground with blood was nourished;
 * From the battle now lost for aye,
 * Came Kryspek’s men, one sad day.

Long before the war now raging,
 * Jitka’s beauty had minstrels sung.

Every virtue had the maiden,
 * And praised she was by every tongue.

Seventeen summers had she wandered In the castle hall, and pondered,
 * While the striplings from far and wide,
 * In useless longing for her sighed.

From far and wide they came to woo—
 * The Castle Kačerov was sought

By noblest youths, who wished to wed
 * The beauteous maiden, so well taught.