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88 One bold Baron, double-dyed,

Bigamist and Parricide

And, as most the stories run,

Partner of the Evil One;

Injured innocence in white—

Fair, but idiotic quite—

Wringing of her lily hands;

Valor fresh from Paynim lands.

Abbot ruddy, hermit pale

Minstrel, fraught with many a tale,

Are the actors that combine

In the Legends of the Rhine.

Bell-mouthed flagons round a board,

Suits of armor, shield and sword,

Kerchief with its bloody stain,

Ghosts of the untimely slain,

Thunderclap and clanking chain,

Headsman's block and shining axe,

Thumbscrews, crucifixes, racks,

Midnight-tolling chapel bell

Heard across the gloomy fell.