Page:The Queens Court Manuscript with Other Ancient Bohemian Poems, 1852, Cambridge edition.djvu/59

O’er Neklan, o’er that glorious prince,
He’d won the victory.
And fire and sword he sent abroad
Into Neklan’s land so wide,
And behind his warriors’ robber swords
Neklan with scorn defied.

“Up, Czestmir! lead my bands to war!
“Vlaslaw, puff’d up with pride,
“Hath spoken words of arrogance,
“And us with scorn defied.”

And Czestmir doth with joy arise,
And seizes his dark black shield,
(His dark black shield two tusks adorn)
And with it to the field
He takes his axe and his helm, which ne’er
In war might piercèd be,
And offerings to the gods he brings
Under every greenwood tree.

Merrily Czestmir calls his men,
And soon the ranks they fill,
And they march ere dawn and all day long,
And they march on yet when the sun is set,
To the top of yon high hill.