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KNICKERBOCKER GALLERY.
Hearing his imperial name Coupled with these words of malice,Half in anger, half in shame,Forth the great campaigner came, Slowly from his canvas palace.
"Let no hand the bird molest," Said he, solemnly, "nor hurt her!"Adding then, by way of jest,"Golondrina is my guest; 'T is the wife of some deserter!"[1]
Swift as bow-string speeds a shaft, Through the camp was spread the rumor;And the soldiers, as they quaffedFlemish beer at dinner, laughed At the Emperor's pleasant humor.
So, unharmed and unafraid, There the swallow sat and brooded.Till the constant cannonadeThrough the walls a breach had made, And the siege was thus concluded.
Then the army, elsewhere bent, Struck its tents as if disbanding;Only not the Emperor's tent,For he ordered ere he went, Very curtly, "Leave it standing!"
And it stood there all alone, Loosely flapping, torn and tattered,Till the brood was fledged and flown,Singing o'er those walls of stone, That the cannon-shot had shattered.
- ↑ Golondrino, In Spanish, means a swallow and a deserter.
