PARAPHRASE.

To Oggier spake King Didier: "When cometh Charlemagne? We looked for him in harvest: We looked for him in rain. Crops are reaped; and floods are past; And still he is not here. Some token show, that we may know That Charlemagne is near."

Then to the King made answer Oggier, the christened Dane: "When stands the iron harvest, Ripe on the Lombard plain, That stiff harvest which is reaped With sword of knight and peer, Then by that sign ye may divine That Charlemagne is near.

"When round the Lombard cities The iron flood shall flow, A swifter flood than Ticin, A broader flood than Po, Frothing white with many a plume, Dark blue with many a spear, Then by that sign ye may divine That Charlemagne is near."

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