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Mounted on Kyrat strong and fleet,
His chestnut steed with four white feet,
Roushan Beg, called Kurroglou,
Son of the road and bandit chief,
Seeking refuge and relief,
Up the mountain pathway flew.
Such was the Kyrat’s wondrous speed,
Never yet could any steed
Reach the dust-cloud in his course.
More than maiden, more than wife,
More than gold, and next to life
Roushan the Robber loved his horse.
In the land that lies beyond
Erzeroum and Trebizond,
Garden-girt, his fortress stood;
Plundered khan, or caravan
Journeying north from Koordistan,
Gave him wealth and wine and food.
Seven hundred and fourscore
Men at arms his livery wore;
Did his bidding night and day.
Now, through regions all unknown,
He was wandering, lost, alone,
Seeking, without guide, his way.
Suddenly the pathway ends;
Sheer the precipice descends;
Loud the torrent roars unseen;
Thirty feet from side to side
Yawns the chasm; on air must ride
He who crosses this ravine.
Following close in his pursuit.
At the precipice’s foot
Reyhan the Arab of Orfah
Halted with his hundred men,
Shouting upward from the glen,
“La Illah ilia Allah!”
Gently Roushan Beg caressed
Kyrat’s forehead, neck, and breast;
Kissed him upon both his eyes;
Sang to him in his wild way,
As upon the topmost spray
Sings a bird before it flies:
“O my Kyrat, O my steed.
Round and slender as a reed.
Carry me this peril through!
Satin housings shall be thine,
Shoes of gold, O Kyrat mine,
O thou soul of Kurroglou!
“Soft thy skin as silken skein;
Soft as woman’s hair thy mane;
Tender are thine eyes and true;
All thy hoofs like ivory shine,
Polished bright; O life of mine,
Leap, and rescue Kurroglou!”
Kyrat, then, the strong and fleet,
Drew together his four white feet,
Paused a moment on the verge,
Measured with his eye the space,
And into the air’s embrace
Leaped as leaps the ocean surge.
As the ocean surge o’er sand
Bears a swimmer safe to land,
Kyrat safe his rider bore;
Rattling down the deep abyss
Fragments of the precipice
Rolled like pebbles on a shore.
Roushan’s tasseled cap of red
Trembled not upon his head;
Careless sat he and upright;
Neither hand nor bridle shook;
Nor his head he turned to look,
As he galloped out of sight.
Flash of harness in the air,
Seen a moment, like the glare
Of a sword drawn from its sheath;
Thus the phantom horseman passed,
And the shadow that he cast
Leaped the cataract under neath.
Reyhan the Arab held his breath
While this vision of life and death
Passed above him. “Allahu!”
Cried he. “In all Koordistan
Lives there not so brave a man
As this Robber Kurroglou!”
( Henry Wadsworth Longfellow )
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), one of the greatest of American poets, was born in Portland, Maine. He was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825, in the same class with Nathaniel Hawthorne. While in college Longfellow developed a great interest in foreign languages and also showed marked ability in verse-making. He spent three years in Europe and upon his return became professor of modem languages at Bowdoin. Outre Mer, his first book, is in prose,and gives an account of his life in Europe.
From Bowdoin, Longfellow went to Harvard University to teach, but in 1854 he gave up his college work and devoted himself to the writing of poetry. By his many translations from foreign tongues Longfellow has greatly enriched our literature; but in his own poems he remained thoroughly American. The titles,“poet of culture,” “poet of peace, of the home, and history,” and “the children’s poet,” which have been bestowed upon him show the nature of his work and the esteem in which he is held. Longfellow won recognition from the lovers of poetry in England as well as in America, and after his death his bust was placed in the “Poets’ Corner” in Westminster Abbey, where stand memorials to Shakespeare and others who have won imperishable fame.
fourscore : eighty
livery : citizens of London, uniform
housings : saddle cover and trimmings
verge : edge
A) Answer the following questions.
1) What was Roushan Beg’s position before the leap?
2) How did he end up in such danger?
3) How do we know that Roushan loved his horse?
4) How did he gain his wealth?
5) What did the Arab think of Roushan Beg after the leap?
6) Why would you call this poem a ballad?
B) What’s the word? Using the clues, choose the correct words from the poem.
1) a leader – c _ _ _ _
2) another word for horse – s _ _ _ _
3) chasing after someone – p _ _ _ _ _ _
4) another word for fast – f _ _ _ _
5) rode quickly – g _ _ _ _ _ _ _