Page:Metrical tales and other poems .. (IA metricaltalesoth00soutrich).pdf/18

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6

So then to his palace returned he,
And he sat 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 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 stream is strong and the water deep.