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"This shalt thou do without delay:
No longer here myself may stay:
Unless the swifter I speed away,
Short shrift will be at my dying day."
No longer here myself may stay:
Unless the swifter I speed away,
Short shrift will be at my dying day."
VIII.
Away in speed Lord Cranstoun rode;
The goblin-page behind abode:
His lord's command he ne'er withstood,
Though small his pleasure to do good.
As the corslet off he took,
The dwarf espied the mighty book!
Much he marvelled a knight of pride,
Like a book-bosomed priest, should ride:
He thought not to search or stanch the wound,
Until the secret he had found.
Away in speed Lord Cranstoun rode;
The goblin-page behind abode:
His lord's command he ne'er withstood,
Though small his pleasure to do good.
As the corslet off he took,
The dwarf espied the mighty book!
Much he marvelled a knight of pride,
Like a book-bosomed priest, should ride:
He thought not to search or stanch the wound,
Until the secret he had found.
IX.
The iron band, the iron clasp,
Resisted long the elfin grasp;
The iron band, the iron clasp,
Resisted long the elfin grasp;