Chapter XXIII

With the mist of the morning, a little bit
More transparent, I trow, than it,
He climbs the mountain's craggy side;
Anon the castle's lordly pride

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He braves with free and fearless brow,
And mutters, "Now then for the row! "

Before the gates on either side,
A "formidable shape" he spied;
A monstrous griffin right and left,
Like to an antediluvian eft;
Green of back and yellow of maw,
Forked of tongue, and crooked of claw;
Belching and snivelling flame and fire,--
A regular pair of chimeras dire.

"Oh!" said Jack, and he made a face,
"I never saw such a scaly brace!"

Unharmed he 'scaped, because unseen,
Those monsters all so fierce and green;
Through files of reptile guards he passed,
Scolopendras black and vast;
Many a hydra, many a lizard,
Heros' tomb its filthy gizzard;
Dragon with mouth like Ætna's crater,
Crocodile and alligator;
Huge spiders and scorpions round him crawled,
Monstrous toads before him sprawled;
Great rattle-snakes their fangs displayed--
"Hurrah!" he shouted, "who's afraid?"

And now upon the inner gate
He reads these mystic words of fate:--

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