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Book V. Canto Xvii. S'it'a's Guard

Canto Xvii.: St'S Guard.


His pitying eyes with tears bedewed,

The weeping queen again he viewed,

And saw around the prisoner stand

Her demon guard, a fearful band. 1

Some earless, some with ears that hung

Low as their feet and loosely swung:

Some fierce with single ears and eyes,

Some dwarfish, some of monstrous size:

Some with their dark necks long and thin

With hair upon the knotty skin:

Some with wild locks, some bald and bare,

Some covered o'er with bristly hair:

Some tall and straight, some bowed and bent

With every foul disfigurement:

All black and fierce with eyes of fire.

Ruthless and stern and swift to ire:

Some with the jackal's jaw and nose.

Some faced like boars and buffaloes:

Some with the heads of goats and kine,

Of elephants, and dogs, and swine:

With lions' lips and horses' brows,

They walked with feet of mules and cows:

Swords, maces, clubs, and spears they bore

In hideous hands that reeked with gore,

And, never sated, turned afresh

To bowls of wine and piles of flesh.

Such were the awful guards who stood

Round St in that lovely wood,

While in her lonely sorrow she

Wept sadly neath a spreading tree.

He watched the spouse of Rma there

Regardless of her tangled hair,

Her jewels stripped from neck and limb,

Decked only with her love of him.

Footnotes

405:1
Somewhat similarly has Ariosto described the band of monster at the gate of the city of Alcina:

"Non fu veduta mai pi strana torma,

Pi monstruosi volti e peggio fatti;

Alcun' dal collo in gi d'uomini han forma,

Col viso altri di simie, altri di gatti;

Stampano alcun con pi caprigni l'orma,

Alcuni son centauri agili ed atti."

"Orlando Furioso", Canto VI.
karna parva mahabharata| karna parva mahabharata
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