The sly _Duende_, like a mouse,
Hearkening behind the wall,
Did now resolve he quickly would
The greedy rogues bemaul
En efecto, agigantado,
Con negro manto talar,
Cornamenta singular,
Ufias largas y barbado.
A mighty giant, lo he comes.
Wrapped in a cloak of sable;
With horns, hoofs, nails, and beard yclad,
He jumped upon the table!
Un garrote enarbolado
Y brotando espuma y fuego,
Les dijo: _Yo devo al juego_
_Mi desgracia y este estado._
A cudgel of some seven years' growth
He brandished. Fire and smoke
Shot from his lips, while thus he spake;--
"I'll gripe you gambling folk.
_Los fulleros me han quitado_
_Con mi dinero, la vida,_
_Y pues que sois homicida_
_De todo hombre inocente!_
"To gaming my disgrace I owe,
With money went my wife;
'Tis such as you the murderers be,--
This night shall end your life!
_No quede vicho viviente,_
_En toda culta nacion,_
_Que ejerza la profesion_
_De fullero y vagamundo_.
"In every nation, called refined,
Or gamblers or their wives,
Or wealthy wight shall ne'er be found,
Who shakes the bones and thrives.
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