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50 But in the first fight, scarce I viewed the standards, Scarce did I hear my nation's songs of war, I sprang unto our own,—led the old man with me. As the young falcon, severed from his nest, And nourished in a cage, although the fowlers By cruel torments strip him of his reason, And send him forth to war on brother-falcons; Soon as he rises 'mid the clouds, soon as His eyes o'erstretch the far unmeasured plains Of his blue Fatherland, he breathes free air, And hears the rustle of his wings.—Return Unto thy home, O fowler! do not wait To see the falcon in his narrow cage."

The youth made end; with wonder Kiejstut heard, And listened also Kiejstut's daughter fair, Aldona, young and lovely as a goddess. The autumn passes, therewith evenings lengthen; And Kiejstut's daughter, as accustomed, sits Among her sisters and her comrades' train, Weaves at the loom or spins the distaff thread; But as the needles fly or spindles turn, Walter stands by and telleth wondrous tales. About the German countries and his youth. The damsel seizes all that Walter speaks, Her soul, insatiable, devours all things;