OLDRICH AND BOLESLAW.
5
Eight lords behind him storming go,
Three hundred at their side;
Three hundred men and fifty more,
Of valour prov’d and tried;
To where the Polish host is laid
In slumber scatter’d wide.
They stood upon the mountain ridge,
Fast by the forest deep;
Before them Prague lies motionless
In her quiet morning sleep.
Veltava[1] steams with morning mist,
Behind Prague the hills are blue,
Behind the hills the eastern sky
Assumes its morning hue.
“Down from the hill! but hush! no noise!”
Into quiet Prague they steal,
And each his weapon sharp within
His mantle doth conceal.
A shepherd goes in the grey of dawn,
And calls to the watch on high
- ↑ Veltava, usually written Vltava, by the Germans called the Moldau, is the river upon which Prague (Praha) is situated.
