ENIGMA.
A lady contributor has sent ns tho following clever biblical enigma, the reply to which will ho given in our next should none of our readers he able to solve it • Come and commiserate, One who was blind, Helpless and desolate, Void of a mind. Guileless, deceiving, Though unbelieving, Free from all sin, By mortals adored, Still, I ignored The world I was in. King Ptolemy's, Ciesar’s, And Tiglath Pilosar’s Birthdays are shown ; Wise men, astrologers, All are acknowledgers, Mine is unknown. I ne’er had a father Or mother, or rather If I had either, Of them was neither Alive at my birth. Lodged in a palace. Hunted by malice I did not inherit By lineage or merit A spot on the earth. Nursed among strangers no one baptized me. A sponsor I had, who ne’er catechised me; She gave me the name to her heart that was dearest, She gave me the place to her bosom the nearest; But one look of kindness She cast on mo never, Nor a word in my blindness, I heard from her ever. Compassed by dangers, By foemen and strangers, Nothing could harm me Nought could alarm me, I saved, I destroyed, Yet I never enjoyed. Kept a crown for a prince, But had none of my own. Filled the place of a king, But n’er sat on a throne. Rescued a warrior, baffled a plot, Was what I seemed not, seemed that I was not. Devoted to slaughter A price mi my head A kings lovely daughter Watched by my bed. Though gently she dressed me, Fainting with fear ; She never carressed me Nor wiped off a tear ; Never moistened my lips, Though parching and dry ; Gared not I should live Feared not I should die. 'Twas royalty nursed me, Wretched and poor : 'Twas royally cursed me, In secret I am sure. I live nut, I die not, hut tell you I must, That ages have passed since I first turned to dust. Tilis paradox whence, this squalor this splendour ? Say, was I a king ? or a silly pretender ? Fathom the mystery, Deep in rny history, Was I a man '! An angel supernal ? A demon infernal ? Solve it who can !
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Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2412, 24 December 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)
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369ENIGMA. Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2412, 24 December 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)
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