Detdiar sidj as efterluket wurden.
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Within his fangs the venom boils.
'Gainst Sweden, armed with fire and sword
There lay a squadron ; thitherward
Maria bent her course, and where
Swords glance and banners flout the air,
She seeks a place on board the fleet
That soon the Swedish hosts shall meet.
The leader of that savage horde
Eyed her full sharply, with the word,
"More dangerous, methinks, young swain !
Thou'lt prove to Northern maids than men.
We'll send thee ! 'tis not to be feared
That they will pluck thee by the beard !
But war's stern art thou'lt learn from them
Right thoroughly. 'Tis no child's game ;
For life and death the venture's tried,
God and Saint Nicholas decide !"
The sails fill fast, the keels ride free
In foam upon the Baltic sea ;
