Poems (Hooper)/The King of Thulé
THE KING OF THULÉ.
Es war ein König in Thulé.
There was a king in Thulé, True even to the grave,To whom his loved one, dying, A golden goblet gave.
He held naught else so precious, Naught else so safely kept;At every feast he drained it, And as he drank he wept.
And, dying, all his cities And wealth he counted up;His realms he gave up freely; Not so the treasured cup.
He called his knights around him A kingly feast he gaveIn yon ancestral palace, High up above the wave.
Up rose the old carouser, One last long draught drank he;Then flung the hallowed goblet Far down into the sea.
He saw it falling, filling, And sinking in the main;Then closed his eyes forever; He never drank again.Goethe.