Page:The Queens Court Manuscript with Other Ancient Bohemian Poems, 1852, Cambridge edition.djvu/74

“In peace to think on war is wise;
“The German on our border lies.”
Thus speaks the prince; the silence flies;
Up from the board the nobles rise,
Each to the prince due rev’rence paid,
The princess and the lovely maid.
The drums and trumpets sound again;
Before the castle on the plain,
Upon the plain of wide extent,
Each arms him for the tournament.
The prince upon a balcony
Sits with his senators on high,
The princess with the dames is there,
Ludisa with the maidens fair.
The prince his nobles gives command:
“Who in the tourney first shall stand,
“To bid arise of right is mine.”
The prince to Strebor gives the sign,
Strebor doth Ludislaw defy;
Each springs upon his steed on high,
Each takes his sharply-pointed lance,
Then on each other swift advance.
Together there they struggled long,
Till shiver’d were their lances strong,
And each so weary and o’erdone,
That from the lists they both are gone.