Yet why do I pause?
did not Rani, and Atama, and Mardonna, my ancestors, each see for himself, free Mardi; and did they not fly the proffered girdle; choosing rather to be free to come and go, than bury themselves forever in this fatal glen?
Oh Mardi! Mardi! art thou then so fair to see?
Is liberty a thing so glorious?
Yet can I be no king, and behold thee! Too late, too late, to view thy charms and then return.

My sire! my sire! thou hast wrung my heart with this agony of doubt.
Tell me, comrades,--for ye have seen it,--is Mardi sweeter to behold, than it is royal to reign over Juam?
Silent, are ye?
Knowing what ye do, were ye me, would ye be kings?
Tell me, Talara .-- No king: no king:--that were to obey, and not command.

And none hath Donjalolo ere obeyed but the king his father.

A king, and my voice may be heard in farthest Mardi, though I abide in narrow Willamilla.

My sire! my sire! Ye flying clouds, what look ye down upon?
Tell me, what ye see abroad?
Methinks sweet spices breathe from out the cave." "Hail, Donjalolo, King of Juam," now sounded with acclamations from the groves.
Starting, the young prince beheld a multitude approaching: warriors with spears, and maidens with flowers; and Kubla, a priest, lifting on high the tasseled girdle of Teei, and waving it toward him.
The young chiefs fell back.