Pagina 222 di 788

Below, the crumbling remains of cities meet the eye. Here an

overthrown oak protrudes from the ground, like an immense ruin;

on it seem to rest fragments of walls and columns; on this side

are branching stumps, on that half-rotted beams, enclosed with a

hedge of grass. Within the barricade it is terrible to look:

there dwell the lords of the forest, wild boars, bears, and

wolves; at the gate lie the half-gnawed bones of some unwary

guests. Sometimes there rise up through the green of the grass,

like two jets of water, a pair of stag's antlers; and a beast

flits between the trees like a yellow streak, as when a sunbeam

falls between the forest trees and dies.