35
THE AFRICAN.
It was a king in Africa,
He had an only son;
And none of Europe's crowned kings
Could have a dearer one.
With good cane arrows five feet long,
And with a shining bow.
When but a boy, to the palm woods
Would that young hunter go.
And home he brought white ivory,
And many a spotted hide;
When leopards fierce and beautiful
Beneath his arrows died.
Around his arms, around his brow,
A shining bar was rolled;
It was to mark his royal blood.
He wore that bar of gold.
And often at his father's feet,
The evening he would pass;
When, weary of the hunt, he lay
Upon the scented grass.
Alas! it was an evil day.
When such a thing could be;
When strangers, pale and terrible,
Came o'er the distant sea.
They found the young prince mid the woods.
The palm woods deep and dark:
That day his lion hunt was done.
They bore him to their bark.
They bound him in a narrow hold.
With others of his kind;
For weeks did that accursed ship
Sail on before the wind.
Now shame upon the cruel wind.
And on the cruel sea,
That did not with some mighty storm,
Set those poor captives free:
