The sooty lout with quick assent
  Laughed, picked me up, and off we went. 
  A little more, and from my throat
  Toward heaven I’d sent a joyous note. 
  Within the manse the strange new guest
  Astounded all from most to least;
  But soon each face, before afraid,
  The glowing light of joy displayed. 
  Wife, maids and menfolks, girls and boys
  Surrounded with a seven-fold noise
  The giant rooster in the hall,
  Welcoming, looking, handling all. 
  The man of God with jealous care
  Took me himself and climbed the stair
  To his own study, while the pack
  Came stumbling after at his back.

  Within these walls is peace enshrined! 
  Entering, we left the world behind. 
  I seemed to breathe a magic air,
  Essence of books and learning rare,
  Geranium scent and mignonette,
  And faint tobacco lingering yet. 
  (To me of course all this was new.)
  An ancient stove I noticed, too,
  In the left corner in full view. 
  Quite like a tower its bulk was raised
  Until its peak the ceiling grazed,
  With pillared strength and flowery grace,
  O most delightful resting-place! 
  On the top wreath as on a mast
  The blacksmith set me firm and fast.

  Behold my stove with reverent eyes! 
  Cathedral-like its noble size;
  With store of pictures overwrought,
  And rhymes that tell of pious thought. 
  Of such I learned full many a word,
  While the old stove from out its hoard
  Would draw them forth for young and old,
  When the snow fell and winds blew cold. 
  Here you may see where on the tile
  Stands Bishop Hatto’s towered isle,
  While rats and mice on every side
  Swim through the Rhine’s opposing tide. 
  The armed grooms in vain wage war,

  The host of tails grows more and more,
  Till thousands ranged in close array
  Leap from the walls on those at bay
  And seize the bishop in his room: 
  An awful death is now his doom;
  Devoured straightway shall he be
  To pay the price of perjury. 
  —­There too Belshazzar’s banquet shines,
  Voluptuous women, costly wines;
  But in the amazed sight of all
  The dread hand writes upon the wall. 
  —­Lastly the pictures represent
  How Sarah listens in the tent
  While God Almighty, come to earth,
  Foretells to Abraham the birth
  Of Isaac and his seed thereafter. 
  Sarah cannot restrain her laughter,
  Since both are well advanced in years. 
  God asks when he the laughter hears: 
  “Doth Sarah laugh then at God’s will,
  And doubt if this he may fulfil?”
  Her indiscretion to recall
  She says, “I did not laugh at all.” 
  Which commonly would be a lie;
  But God prefers to pass it by,
  Since ’tis not done with malice dark,
  And she’s a lady patriarch.