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Then lend me now your little boat,
And I will down the river float.
I tell thee that no worldly thing
Shall keep me from the crocodile king.

The woman she leapt into the boat,
And down the river alone did she float,
And fast with the stream the boat proceeds,
And now she is come to the island of reeds.

The king of the crocodiles there was seen,
He sat upon the eggs of his queen,
And all around, a numerous rout,

The young prince crocodiles crawl'd about.

The woman shook every limb with fear,
As she to the crocodile king came near,
For never man without fear and awe
The face of his crocodile majesty saw.

She fell upon her bended knee,
And said, O king, have pity on me,
For I have lost my darling child,

And that's the loss that makes me wild.

A crocodile ate him for his food,
Now let me have the murderer's blood,
Let me have vengeance for my boy,
The only thing that can give me joy.

I know that you, sire! never do wrong;
You have no tail so stiff and strong,
You have no tail to strike and slay,
But you have ears to hear what I say.

You have done well, the king replies,
And fix'd on her his little eyes;
Good woman, yes, you have done right,
But you have not described me quite.

I have no tail to strike and slay,
And I have ears to hear what you say;
I have teeth, moreover, as you may see,
And I will make a meal of thee.

GOD'S JUDGMENT ON A BISHOP.

Here followeth the History of HATTO, Archbishop of Mentz.

It hapned in the year 914, that there was an exceeding great famine in Germany, at what time Otho, surnamed the Great, was Emperor, and one Hatto, once Abbot of Fulda, was Archbishop of Mentz, of the bishops after Crescens and Crescentius the two and thirtieth, of the archbishops after St. Bonifacius the thirteenth. This Hatto, in the time of this great famine aforementioned, when he saw the poor people of the country exceedingly oppressed with famine, assembled a great company of them together into a barne, and like a most accursed and mercilesse caitiffe burnt up those poor innocent souls, that were so far from doubting any such matter, that they rather hoped to receive some comfort and relief at his hands. The reason that moved the prelate to commit that execrable impiety, was because he thought the famine would the sooner cease, if those unprofitable beggars that consumed more bread than they were worthy to eat, were dispatched out of the world. For he said that those poor folks were like to mice, that were good for nothing but to devour corne. But God Almighty, the just avenger of the poor folks quarrel, did not long suffer this hainous tyranny-this most detestable fact-unpunished. For he mustered up an army of mice against the archbishop, and sent them to persecute him as his furious Alastors, so that they afflicted him both day and night, and would not suffer him to take his rest in any place. Whereupon the prelate, thinking that he should be secure from the injury of mice if he were in a certain tower, that standeth in the Rhine, near to the towne, betook himself unto the said tower as to a safe refuge and sanctuary from his enemies, and locked himself in. But the innumerable troupes of mice chaced him continually very eagerly, and swumme unto him upon the top of the water to execute the just judgment of God, and so at last he was most miserably devoured by those sillie creatures; who pursued him with such bitter hostility, that it is recorded they scraped and gnawed out his very name from the walls and tapistry wherein it was written, after they had so cruelly devoured his body. Wherefore the tower wherein he was eaten up by the mice is shown to this day, for a perpetual monument to all succeeding ages of the barbarous and inhuman tyranny of this impious prelate, being situate in a little green island in the midst of the Rhine, near to towne of Bing, and is commonly called in the German tongue, the Mowse-turn.-Coryat's Crud.

Other authors who record this tale say that the bishop was eaten by rats.

THE summer and autumn had been so wet,
That in winter the corn was growing yet,
'Twas a piteous sight to see all around
The corn lie rotting on the ground.

Every day the starving poor

They crowded around bishop Hatto's door,
For he had a plentiful last-year's store,
And all the neighbourhood could tell
His granaries were furnished well.

At last bishop Hatto appointed a day
To quiet the poor without delay,

He bade them to his great barn repair,

And they should have food for the winter there.

Rejoiced the tidings good to hear,

The poor folks flocked from far and near,
The great barn was full as it could hold
Of women and children, and young and old.

Then when he saw it could hold no more,
Bishop Hatto he made fast the door,
And whilst for mercy on Christ they call,
He set fire to the barn and burnt them all.

I' faith 'tis an excellent bonfire! quoth he,
And the country is greatly obliged to me,
For ridding it, in these times forlorn,
Of rats that only consume the corn.

So then to his palace returned he,
And he sate down to supper merrily,
And he slept that night like an innocent man,
But bishop Hatto never slept again.

In the morning as he entered the hall,
Where his picture hung against the wall,
A sweat like death all over him came,
For the rats had eaten it out of the frame.

As he look'd, there came a man from his farm,
He had a countenance white with alarm,
My lord, I opened your granaries this morn,
And the rats had eaten all your corn.

Another came running presently,
And he was as pale as pale could be,
Fly! my lord bishop, fly! quoth he,
Ten thousand rats are coming this way-
The Lord forgive you for yesterday!

I'll go to my tower in the Rhine, replied he,
'Tis the safest place in Germany,

The walls are high, and the shores are steep,
And the tide is strong, and the water deep.

Bishop Hatto fearfully hastened away,
And he crost the Rhine without delay,

And reach'd his tower in the island, and barr'd
All the gates secure and hard.

He laid him down and closed his eyes-
But soon a scream made him arise,
He started, and saw two eyes of flame

On his pillow, from whence the screaming came.

He listen'd and look'd;-it was only the cat;
But the bishop he grew more fearful for that,
For she sate screaming, mad with fear
At the army of rats that were drawing near.

For they have swum over the river so deep,
And they have climb'd the shores so steep,
And now by thousands up they crawl

To the holes and the windows in the wall.

Down on his knees the bishop fell,
And faster and faster his beads did he tell,
As louder and louder drawing near,

The saw of their teeth without he could hear.

And in at the windows, and in at the door,
And through the walls, by thousands they pour,
And down from the ceiling, and up through the floor,
From the right and the left, from behind and before,
From within and without, from above and below,
And all at once to the bishop they go.

They have whetted their teeth against the stones,
And now they pick the bishop's bones,
They gnawed the flesh from every limb,
For they were sent to do judgment on him!

BISHOP BRUNO.

"Bruno, the Bishop of Herbipolitanum, sailing in the river of Danubius, with Henry the Third, then emperour, being not far from a place which the Germanes call Ben Strudel, or the devouring gulfe, which is neere unto Grinon, a castle in Austria, a spirit was heard clamouring aloud, Ho, ho, Bishop Bruno, whither art thou travelling? But dispose of thyselfe how thou pleasest, thou shalt be my prey and spoile.' At the hearing of these words they were all stupified, and the bishop with the rest crost and blest themselves. The issue was, that within a short time after, the bishop feasting with the emperor in a castle belonging to the Countesse of Esburch, a rafter fell from the roof of the chamber wherein they sate, and strooke him dead at the table."Heywood's Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels.

BISHOP BRUNO awoke in the dead midnight,
And he heard his heart beat loud with affright:
He dreamt he had rung the palace bell,
And the sound it gave was his passing knell.

Bishop Bruno smiled at his fears so vain,
He turn'd to sleep, and he dreamt again:
He rung at the palace gate once more,
And Death was the porter that open'd the door.

He started up at the fearful dream,

And he heard at his window the screech owl scream!

Bishop Bruno slept no more that night,

Oh! glad was he when he saw the daylight!

Now he goes forth in proud array,
For he with the emperor dines to-day;
There was not a baron in Germany
That went with a nobler train than he.

Before and behind his soldiers ride,
The people throng'd to see their pride,
They bow'd the head, and the knee they bent,
But nobody blest him as he went.

So he went on stately and proud,

When he heard a voice that cried aloud,

Ho! ho! Bishop Bruno! you travel with glee-
But I would have you know, you travel to me!

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