POEMS OLD AND NEW
Then when he saw it could hold no more,
Bishop Hatto he made fast the door.
And while for mercy on Christ they call,
He set fire to the barn and burnt them all.
" Is faith, 'tis an excellent bonfire ! " quoth he,
" And the country is greatly obliged to me,
For ridding it in these times forlorn
Of rats, that only consume the corn."
So then to his palace returned he,
And he sat down to supper merrily, 10
And he slept that night like an innocent man.
But Bishop Hatto never slept again.
In the morning as he enter'd the hall,
Where his picture hung against the wall,
A death-like sweat all over him came ;
For the rats had eaten it out of the frame.
As he look'd there came a man from the farm.
He had a countenance white with alarm ;
" My lord, I open'd your granaries this morn,
And the rats had eaten all your corn." 20
Another came running presently,
And he was pale as pale could be ;
" Fly ! my Lord Bishop, fly," quoth he,
" Ten thousand rats are coming this way—
The Lord forgive you for yesterday ! "
" I'll go to my tower on the Rhine," replied he ;
" 'Tis the safest place in Germany ;
The walls are high, and the shores are steep,
And the stream is strong, and the water deep."
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