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And children trembled on their parents' threshold,
To hear the roar of Samogitia's horn.

What time were better to begin a war
While Litwa by internal strife is torn?
Here the bold Rusin,^[1] here the unquiet Lach,^[2]
The Crimean Khans lead on a mighty host;
And Witold, by Jagellon dispossessed,
Has come to seek protection of the Order;
In recompense doth promise gold and land,
But hitherto for help he waits in vain.

The brothers murmur, council now assembles,
The Master is not seen. Old Halban hastes,
But in the castle, in the chapel finds
Not Konrad. Whither is he? At the tower!
The brotherhood have tracked his steps by night.
'Tis known to all; for at the evening hour.
When all the earth is veiled with thickest mists.
He sallies forth to wander by the lake.
Or on his knees, supported by the wall,

1. Inhabitant of Rus (White Russia, Little Russia, also Red Russia, or Galicia).
2. Pole. The native name of Polska is derived from pole=field, and Lachy=plain of the Lachs.