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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 00:03:26 -0800 |
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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 00:03:26 -0800 |
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diff --git a/old/67883-h/67883-h.htm b/old/67883-h/67883-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 69b23d3..0000000 --- a/old/67883-h/67883-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1703 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" -"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> - -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> - <head> <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> -<title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The -End of Elfintown, by Jane Barlow. -</title> -<style type="text/css"> - -a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - - link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - -a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} - -a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} - -body{margin-left:4%;margin-right:6%;background:#ffffff;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} - -.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - -.caption {font-weight:normal;} -.caption p{font-size:75%;text-align:center;text-indent:0%; -} - -.figcenter {margin:3% auto 3% auto;clear:both; -text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - -.figleft {float:left;clear:left;margin-left:0;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:1em;margin-right:1em;padding:0;text-align:center;} - -.figright {float:right;clear:right;margin-left:1em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:1em;margin-right:0;padding:0;text-align:center;} - - h1 {margin-top:5%;text-align:center;clear:both; -font-weight:normal;} - - h2 {margin-top:4%;margin-bottom:2%;text-align:center;clear:both; - font-size:100%;font-weight:normal;} - - hr.full {width: 60%;margin:2% auto 2% auto;border-top:1px solid black; -padding:.1em;border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left:none;border-right:none;} - - img {border:none;} - - p {margin-top:.2em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.2em;text-indent:4%;} - -.pagenum {font-style:normal;position:absolute; -left:95%;font-size:55%;text-align:right;color:gray; -background-color:#ffffff;font-variant:normal;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0em;} - -small {font-size: 70%;} - -div.poetry {text-align:center;} -div.poem {font-size:100%;margin:auto auto;text-indent:0%; -display: inline-block; text-align: left;} -.poem .stanza {margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom:1em; -line-height:1.75em;} -.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -.poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -.poem span.i20 {display: block; margin-left: 7em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - -.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-size:100%;} - -table {margin:2% auto;border:2px solid gray;} - -.r {text-align:right;} - -</style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The End of Elfintown, by Jane Barlow</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The End of Elfintown</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Jane Barlow</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Laurence Housman</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 20, 2022 [eBook #67883]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Charlene Taylor, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE END OF ELFINTOWN ***</div> -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="500" alt="[The -image of the book's cover is unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<table cellpadding="0"> -<tr><td class="c" colspan="3"><b>CONTENTS</b></td></tr> -<tr><td class="r"><a href="#I_THE_BUILDING">I.</a></td><td><a href="#I_THE_BUILDING">—THE BUILDING</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="r"><a href="#II_THE_COUNCIL">II.</a></td><td><a href="#II_THE_COUNCIL">—THE COUNCIL</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="r"><a href="#III_THE_FLITTING">III.</a></td><td><a href="#III_THE_FLITTING">—THE FLITTING</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 390px;"> -<a href="images/titlepage.jpg"> -<img src="images/titlepage.jpg" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<h1>THE END OF<br /> -ELFINTOWN</h1> - -<p class="c"><small>BY</small><br /> -JANE BARLOW<br /> -<small>ILLUSTRATED BY</small><br /> -LAURENCE HOUSMAN<br /><br /> -LONDON<br /> -MACMILLAN & CO.<br /> -1894 -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="I_THE_BUILDING" id="I_THE_BUILDING"></a></h2> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 316px;"> -<a href="images/image001.jpg"> -<img src="images/image001.jpg" width="316" height="400" alt="I.—THE BUILDING" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Now</span> would that he who knew so well<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of fierce Pigwiggin’s armour fell,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And angered Oberon’s wrath, to tell,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And how their feud was ended,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yea, would that he, ere hence he sped,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Had writ in gold, as I in lead,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For men to learn why Fays be fled,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And whitherward they wended.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">It hapt in ages far agone<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A harmful spell was cast upon<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That Elfin King, great Oberon,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And teen and trouble brought him;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And albeit none can track the skill<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That wove the charm full-fraught with ill,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">We wot the Bad Brown Witch’s will<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Such perilous mischief wrought him.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">For she by magic showed him clear,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In mirroring crystal of her mere,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A wondrous Town; ’twas many a year<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ere yet its like were builded;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But thro’ her might of gramarie<br /></span> -<span class="i0">She made the Elfin Prince to see<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The grandest that on earth should be,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And most by wealth-wand gilded.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">’Twas shrunk, I trow, to seemly size<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For straiter range of Elfin eyes,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But else it had its mortal guise,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No sight, no stir omitted,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With tower and temple, and mart and street,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And prison and palace, all complete,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And whirr of wheels, and hurry of feet<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That hither thither flitted.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Whereon the King much-marvelling gazed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Admiring more, and more amazed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Till, when the Witch its image razed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Still in his heart it tarried,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">(A secret that he might not tell),<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And home unto his woodland dell<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That city’s vision, like a spell,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">O’er all his thoughts he carried.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And since that day he dwelled no more<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In joyance blithe as theretofore,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But sadly aye himself he bore<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Amid the sunniest shining;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nor quivering beam, nor fluttering breeze,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nor flickering shade, his sense could please;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He dreamed of rarer things than these,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And for their lack was pining.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">From harebell’s tent to bindweed’s hall,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From cup-moss low to foxglove tall,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He shifted oft his couch withal,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yet still would chide his chamber,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And said the glowworm-lamps burned dim,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And slurred the dew at rose-bud’s rim;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The kingcup’s gold looked dull to him,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And cowslip’s gawds of amber.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Hence, on his discontents to brood,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He sat one eve in sorry mood,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">While whispering Elves around him stood,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And said ’twas strange, ’twas pity;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">When, sudden, light as leaf on spray,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He leaped and laughed: “By Flowers o’ May,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Mine Elves,” quoth he, “our own essay<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Shall build as fair a city.”<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And eagerly at morrow’s light<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He hasted forth to choose a site,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whereon should now be reared aright<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Strong walls and storeys stately.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He found it soon: an earth-plot bare<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Beyond an elm’s droop; six yards square;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No sod, no moss, no weed, throve there,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Which pleased King Oberon greatly.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“For thro’ those streets,” said he, “was seen<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No blade of grass, or glint of green,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But pavements ferly smooth and clean;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Small fear of footsteps tripping.”<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Not far away a brook bobbed by:<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">“From thence,” he said, “we may supply<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Our waterworks; and soothly I<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Grow weary of dew-drop sipping.”<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Then hied him home amain, and shook<br /></span> -<span class="i0">His drowsy Fays from every nook,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And bade them follow with him, and look<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where splendour should be springing;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And ere the earliest star blinked down<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Upon that earth-patch bare and brown,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The first white pebble of Elfintown<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He laid ’mid cheers loud-ringing.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">And now, indeed, industrious days<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Be risen upon the land of Fays,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where every liege his Lord obeys,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">And toils beside his neighbour.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">They plied them late, they plied them soon,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In dew of dawn, thro’ drowth of noon,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nay, oft the wan light of a moon<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Swam in to lamp their labour.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">No more round Faery-ring they swept<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In mazy measures ere they slept;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But, silent, to his lair each crept,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Limb wearied, sinews aching.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No more they couched in campion’s cell,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or slumbered soft in lily-bell;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Prone on the ground they flung pell-mell,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Brief rest from task-work taking.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Some kneaded stubborn clay for bricks,<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 423px;"> -<a href="images/image009.jpg"> -<img src="images/image009.jpg" width="423" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"> - -<p><i>Copyright 1894 by Macmillan & Co.</i></p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span>  </p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">With shells’ jagged splints some sawed at sticks,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Some delved the soil with brier-thorn picks<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To helves of flax-haulm fitted;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">On business more than one can name<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From dawn to dusk they went and came;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">None durst his share refuse for shame,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nor would with sloth be twitted.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And brutish things, that creep and crawl<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Stingless and strong, they did enthrall<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To burdens bear, and pull and haul,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Along the highways goaded;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">There might ye see the Beetle black<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Come lumbering down the dusty track,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With pebble-blocks piled on his back,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or mossy twig-beams loaded.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And oft they ponderous weights would heap<br /></span> -<span class="i0">On slow-paced Slugs, who, half-asleep,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For many a tedious yard must creep,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their drivers by them trudging;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Even nimbler Ants they made submit<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To bridle and curb of cobweb knit,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Unruly teams, that plunged and bit,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Against the yoke sore grudging.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Thus, sped by toil of serf and Fay,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The work lagged nowise; day by day<br /></span> -<span class="i0">New mansions rose in rich array<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Beside the paven causey;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their like was ne’er in Elfland known,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Some built of brick, and some of stone,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And roofed with mica slabs that shone,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">And glazed with gnat-wings gauzy.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">But, fairest amongst all these descried,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Stood in the middle edified<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Palace where the King should bide,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Well worthy a royal master;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of whitest graile its walls, or stained<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With delicate streaks like marble veined,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From brook-bank quarries drawn, fine-grained,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And pure as alabaster.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">I dare not say how many a line<br /></span> -<span class="i0">It towered aloft, nor words are mine<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To tell what fancies Faery-fine<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Did hall and chamber garnish,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">All carpeted with hand-spun moss,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or laurel-leaf tight strained across,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">That flooring made of smoother gloss<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Than e’er had wax or varnish.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">With couch, and stool, and cushion strown<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of ash-bud’s silk or thistle’s down;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their rugs, fluffed fells of field-mice brown,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For tiger’s skin and panther’s.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their curtains came from spider-looms,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their walls were hung with moths’ soft plumes;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Much gold-dust glittered thro’ the rooms,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From stamens brushed and anthers.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">A midge-flight from the Palace gate,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">(Scroll-work of skeleton beech-leaf) straight<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A Fane they reared that matched in state<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;"> -<a href="images/image015.jpg"> -<img src="images/image015.jpg" width="413" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"> - -<p><i>Copyright 1894 by Macmillan & Co.</i></p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span>  </p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Famed Athens or Eleusis;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Such beauty frieze and cornice lent,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Entablature and pediment;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In double row tall columns went<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Around it, as their use is.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Each from one slab of rush’s pith<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Hewn, like majestic monolith,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The architrave to prop, therewith<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The massy roof upholding.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Indoors ’twas all adusk and chill;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No Fay but felt a solemn thrill<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To pace its cloistered twilight still<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Mysterious glooms enfolding.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Then from the brook with trenching spade<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Smooth dandelion tubes they laid,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And hemlock pipes that bitter made<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The water thro’ them tasted;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Hence, some fastidious Fays would go<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With acorn barrels to and fro,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Till this the King forbade, lest so<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their labour seem but wasted.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Herein alone his fortune frowned:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That in all Fayland was not found<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The fire-snake, lured from underground<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As even-dusk grows dimmer;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This lacked, they did for lamp-posts choose<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Stout daisy-stems, and glowworms use,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Chained there all night with knot and noose,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To make a goodly glimmer.<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 421px;"> -<a href="images/image020.jpg"> -<img src="images/image020.jpg" width="421" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"> - -<p><i>Copyright by Macmillan & Co. 1894</i></p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">But who so fain as Oberon,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That watched as every morn outshone<br /></span> -<span class="i0">His peerless city waxing on,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">While in its growth he gloried?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Triumphant joy it gave the King<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To see each straw-plank scaffolding<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Pulled down piecemeal, as walls upspring,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Wide-windowed, many-storied.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And ever his stirring Elves amid<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He walked, and spied on all they did,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And toilers praised, and idlers chid,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With earnest speech and eager;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Till, swift as blades in April-time<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thro’ clod-cracks pricked, did skyward climb<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Roof crowding roof; whereof my rime<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Keeps but a record meagre.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">And now ye might, in sooth, have thought,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Seeing all to such perfection wrought,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That Fays might well repose have sought,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From toil returned to pleasure.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Howbeit, not so their King inclined,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For fast as sped the works designed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Fresh plans were shapen in his mind,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That wist not bound or measure.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Oft as from Palace towers he eyed<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That spacious plain, as oft he sighed<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To see it planted far and wide<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With street-rows thick as stubble.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nor seldom flaws of wind and rain,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Uplifting roof, and shattering pane,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That needs must be restored again,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Did Elfin labours double.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Thus, by the malice of the skies,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And tasks their King would still devise,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Fays beheld new toils arise<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To bar their hope of resting;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As he who from the strand hath swum,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">While in his ear the surges hum,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Sees evermore to meet him come<br /></span> -<span class="i0">White flocks of billows cresting.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Which when at last they clearly knew,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Deep discontent upon them grew,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Till scarce a Fay did timber hew,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or piled up clay or pebble,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or hoisted load with strain and heft,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or grained a door with fingers deft<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">And listless thoughts, but, hope-bereft,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">At heart was half a rebel.<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 216px;"> -<a href="images/image024.jpg"> -<img src="images/image024.jpg" width="216" height="400" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="II_THE_COUNCIL" id="II_THE_COUNCIL"></a></h2> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 258px;"> -<a href="images/image025.jpg"> -<img src="images/image025.jpg" width="258" height="400" alt="II.—THE COUNCIL" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">So</span>, after setting of a sun,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">When all their day’s long coil was done,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And dew on gossamer-threads late-spun<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Beneath the moonbeams trembled,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Called to a chosen meeting-place,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Without the Town a frog-leap’s space,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To talk about their evil case<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Elfin folk assembled.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">’Twas in good sooth a sight forlorn<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To see them fagged and labour-worn,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their dainty garments stained and torn,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Forms bowed with weary stooping;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Most like a bed of windflowers frail,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">What time a shower of pelting hail<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Hath smirched with mould the petals pale<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And left the bruised stalks drooping.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And as when ruffling breeze-wafts go,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Now sighing loud, now moaning low,<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 427px;"> -<a href="images/image028.jpg"> -<img src="images/image028.jpg" width="427" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Among the shivering blossoms, so<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Among the Elves upstarted<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A wail of voices small and shrill,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That swelled and sank commingled, still<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Lamenting o’er their present ill<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or ancient bliss departed.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">First Elfrain, for his silvern tongue<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Renowned his Faery feres among,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Upon a fallen beech-nut sprung,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Spake clear, while hushed they hearkened:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“It little needs, ye Elves” (he said),<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“To bid you ’ware the direful dread,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">By gathering glooms and shadows spread,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Wherewith our days are darkened.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“But, since a shadow’s curse is e’er<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">The eyes to blind and feet to snare,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That else a path would find and fare<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From forth its grim embrasure,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Behoves us seek from whence they flit,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">These shades that on our lives have lit,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For so, perchance, a way we hit,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Back to the beamy azure.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“Then, prithee, freeborn Fays and Elves,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Here let us pause and ask ourselves<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Why this one hews, why that one delves,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Finch waking, chafer whirring.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">What graceless freak of spiteful change<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Hath o’er us wound these fetters strange,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Who wont down all the dells to range<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Unchecked as breeze’s stirring?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“What joy have ye to cleave the clod,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or mortar bear in chickpea hod,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or down the creaking cart-track plod,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or up the ladder dizzy?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nay, daubed with clay, and grimed with dust,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This piteous plight declares ye must<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Lament the charge upon you thrust<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That makes you bondslaves busy.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Where now be flown the mirthful hours<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ye fleeted by in blossomy bowers?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Soft sleep at core of scented flowers,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Gay sports on greensward airy?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Why fail your feasts, why flag your flights,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Your morrice-dance on moonlit nights?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Have these things now no more delights<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">For heart of woodland Faery?<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“But if one saith: ‘The King commands<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This irksome service at our hands,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And Oberon’s will no Fay withstands,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Lest traitorous act accuse him’—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To such: The ancient laws (I say),<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thro’ which our monarch holds his sway,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Point duly where we must obey,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And where, unblamed, refuse him.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Since for this cause we crowned his head:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That long as Elfin sports be sped,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He still should rule the maze we tread,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">When every Faery traces<br /></span> -<span class="i0">On dew-sprent turf the emerald ring;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Even as the planet lamps that swing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">In shimmering cirques around <i>their</i> King,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Far up heaven’s star-strown spaces.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Hence, if for us he prove indeed<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No sun-bright orb our step to lead,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But Jack-o’-lantern’s goblin glede,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That traveller’s foot betrayeth,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Shall we our lightsome paths forsake<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thro’ bogs to err and briery brake,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where thorn-pricks thrust and quagmires quake,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Lured as his false gleam playeth?<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Yea, of the King I ask: To thee<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Were given for lieges Faeries free,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or creeping things whose toil we see<br /></span> -<span class="i0">By niggard Nature spurred on?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">They twist the thread, they store the grain,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And thus, at least, their portion gain;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whilst us thou biddest to struggles vain<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That win nor gift nor guerdon.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“Yet, furthermore, and haply first<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In import grave: some spell accurst,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Methinks, this troublous toiler’s-thirst<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thus in our King sets burning;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For I long since have deemed to mark<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Flash from his eye a fitful spark,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Enkindled by those sorceries dark<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That steal the wits’ discerning.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“How else should he, who erst had known<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Fair mansions in fresh flower-buds blown,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">His dwelling choose of stock and stone,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Coarse clay, and cobweb flimsy?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yon piles uncouth, whereon we have wrought<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thro’ weary workdays, seem they aught<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Save folly planned by one distraught<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With some fantastic whimsy?<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“Now, by the Night-bat’s shriek! full loth<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Were I to slight my deep-sworn oath,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or hear it said that I for sloth<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Mine owed allegiance scanted;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But, tho’ I bide such slanders ill,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I less could brook the Fay-folk still<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Enslaved to work the warlock’s will<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Who hath our King enchanted.”<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Thus he; and thro’ his hearers went<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Deep murmurs, as when hearts assent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">To words that voice their discontent,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Long felt but lowly muttered.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And Elfdore from among them next<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Arose, his gentle spirit vext,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And much with jarring griefs perplext,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As mournful speech he uttered:<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Ay me, what stinging thoughts awoke<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Like ray-warmed flies, while Elfrain spoke,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And told the wrongs of Faery-folk,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And sorer ills that threat them;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And, keenlier thrilling, called to mind<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Those days ere yet our bliss declined—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Lost days, tho’ far they lag behind,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">What Elf can once forget them?<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Your heaviest task to plot some prank,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Your dullest hour blithe pastimes shrank;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With sun that rose, and sun that sank,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No Faery’s gladness vanished.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But very vainly lend I speech<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To loud-voiced woes; this truth can teach,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In few, what dismal tracts we reach,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From former weal far-banished:<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“That, when our green-ywimpled wood,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Like moss-rose reddening thro’ her hood,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Lets vermeil dawn a path make good<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where many a dim shade drowseth,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No more, as once, its burgeoning light<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Seems flower-soft balm to Elfin sight,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But signal-fire that weary wight<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To loathëd labour rouseth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“And when the West’s curved crystalline<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Pales, over-brimmed with silvern shine,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Pure water poured where blush-tinct wine<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The rubied rim was crowning,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Naught heeding save our hardship’s case,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">We only sigh: ‘Ebb, light, apace,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And leave our cares a little space<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In dreamless slumber drowning.’<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“Then, since, of Elfin frolic stripped,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In slavish bonds our days are clipped,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Scarce save in sleep-whelmed pauses slipped,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Blank silence, whither fleeing<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From senses’ dole to senses’ dearth<br /></span> -<span class="i0">We respite seek—holds life its worth?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">What joy were minished on the earth<br /></span> -<span class="i0">If Faeries ceased from being?<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 432px;"> -<a href="images/image039.jpg"> -<img src="images/image039.jpg" width="432" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"> - -<p><i>Copyright 1894 by Macmillan & Co.</i></p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span>  </p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“And not on you alone this yoke<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of bondage falls; an humbler folk<br /></span> -<span class="i0">May rue the hour when trowel’s stroke<br /></span> -<span class="i0">First tinkled clinking yonder;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Our fellow-wights of feature quaint,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Now captived, maugre plea and plaint,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To drudge for us; whose harsh constraint<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I oft remorseful ponder.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“My heart grows hot when yearnings vain<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Dumb in the draught-ant’s eyes speak plain,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For comrades’ blithesome bustle fain,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Amid their garnered treasure.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And ruth and wrath will thro’ me throb<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To hear the unsightly Spider sob,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">When from her loom the weft we rob,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Wove with such pride and pleasure.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“And still when harnessed Snail or Slug<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I watch the hated wain-load tug,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or Beetle gross down ruts deep-dug<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Hath past me, panting, lumbered,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Reproachful twinges wring my mind,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For so we twofold burdens bind<br /></span> -<span class="i0">On creatures whom, thro’ Fate unkind,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Unwieldy frames have cumbered.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“Yet, if, irate at wrongs of these,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To rebel thoughts I turn for ease,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I fare as foot that nettle flees,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But which barbed thistle lameth;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">So shrewd a thorn-pang pierced my breast<br /></span> -<span class="i0">What time I heard an Elf suggest<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That Fays should scorn their King’s behest<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Since overmuch he claimeth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“For, tho’ mine ire mount ne’er so high,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Let Oberon but anon draw nigh<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With joyful mien and sparkling eye,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Our bootless tasks admiring,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And, doubting naught of hearers glad,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Begin to tell new projects mad—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Tall towers to raise, long rows to add,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">All Elfland’s strength requiring,<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Then, wistful, pause my face to scan<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And read approval of his plan<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Trow, if for very ruth I can<br /></span> -<span class="i0">There brook him vainly seek it.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nay, if I knew one word whose might<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Could all his hopes forbid and blight,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Loose Elfdom’s chains, and crush his sprite,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In truth ’twere hard to speak it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“But for the cause that Elfrain deems<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Hath crazed the King with waking dreams,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A Wizard, who our ruin schemes<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With arts beyond our foiling;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">So fell a thought I dare not think<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That leadeth to a misery’s brink,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Wherefrom my frighted fancies shrink<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In anguish back recoiling.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“Our case my counsel mocks. I rede<br /></span> -<span class="i0">We Elfmel call, and straitly heed<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The word he speaks; for if, indeed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Dark Fate, a cure thou shroudest,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">His wisdom shall that cure surprise.”<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Then all around rang eager cries:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“Let Elfmel speak—let him advise”—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And he, at clamour’s loudest,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Stood forth upon the beechen stage;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Not old, for Faeries know not age,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But past his peers reputed sage,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Such fame his wit achieveth;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">True to the mark his winged words went,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Sure as a well-poised arrow sent,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yet clear to show their thought’s intent<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As air that arrow cleaveth:<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Lo, Elfrain’s guess, and Elfdore’s dread,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I long have known for truth” (he said);<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“No mortal guile the snare hath spread<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where Oberon lies entangled;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nor lives who thus awry could twitch<br /></span> -<span class="i0">His sense, or fool to such a pitch,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Save one alone, the Bad Brown Witch.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Aye plotting ills new-fangled.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“And, wot ye well, if aught avail<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To countercharm her magic’s bale,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whose mischief sore we so bewail,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Plunged in this dire quandáry,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">’Tis aid no mortal power can lend;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">One only may her marring mend—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Good Gray Witch, a faithful friend<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Oft proved to folk of Faery.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Yet, he who would her pity awake,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A perilous path must undertake,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For far beside her Lonesome Lake<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A slumbrous trance hath bound her,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where evermore a silence deep,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Like trusty sentinel, must keep<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Mute watch to guard the sevenfold sleep<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That laps its dreams around her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“The first fold shade or shine ne’er crossed;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Beyond the next each sound fails lost;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The third fends off both fire and frost,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">How fierce so e’er their noyance;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The fourth shrouds safe from fear and fret;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The fifth bars memory and regret;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Keen ire and scorn the sixth can let,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The seventh all hope and joyance.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Still may her helpful might be sought,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Still may her ruthful heart be raught,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Albeit by steps with peril fraught,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Down dim paths danger-ridden;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yea, long-conned mage-lore yields me arms<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Can pierce her sleep; right awesome charms,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That, save for cure of grievous harms,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To utter I am forbidden.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“And erst deemed I that haply soon,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As film-flakes floating by the moon<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Steeped in her frosted fire-flood swoon,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And one brief moment dim it,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Even so from us our cares might drift<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Fleeting and fading soft and swift;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But nay; their pall shows never a rift,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their shade-sweep never a limit.<br /></span> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“And therefore now, ye Fays, I feel<br /></span> -<span class="i0">’Tis time to her we make appeal<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For help that Oberon’s hurt shall heal,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And lure him from his madness;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And list ye on this mission trust<br /></span> -<span class="i0">My zeal and truth, her power august<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Will I beseech, till yield it must<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A boon to work us gladness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span>”<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 213px;"> -<a href="images/image049.jpg"> -<img src="images/image049.jpg" width="213" height="400" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Then, like the hum as poised bee swoops<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To gold-domed gloom where flower-bell droops,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The voice of clustering Elfin groups<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Rose up, his speech approving;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And cried that in such embassage<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No worthier Elf could e’er engage;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And bade him speed the task whose wage<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Should be their woe’s removing.<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span>  </p> - -<h2><a name="III_THE_FLITTING" id="III_THE_FLITTING"></a></h2> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 283px;"> -<a href="images/image051.jpg"> -<img src="images/image051.jpg" width="283" height="400" alt="III.—THE FLITTING" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hence</span>, when the dawn looked dewiest,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Forth Elfmel fared on fateful quest,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Alone, so ran the charm’s behest,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">While still the King lay dreaming;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But—since his se’ennight’s peril dared<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Were long to tell—he home repaired<br /></span> -<span class="i0">When Elfintown at sunset flared,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With roofs and windows gleaming.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">He came, in sooth, at time of need,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Because the King had just decreed<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A task that should all tasks exceed<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Which yet the Fays had sighed o’er:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A monstrous tower, ne’er seen its like,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whose crest should seem the clouds to strike,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And even the loftiest plantain-spike<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Peer in prodigious pride o’er.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Not empty-handed Elfmel came:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A mirror wan in dark-wove frame<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Witch had sent, and o’er the same<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Breathed many a murmur mystic;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In size it matched the rain-drop pearled<br /></span> -<span class="i0">At broadest blade-point; round it curled<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Stag-beetle’s antler, carved and whirled<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With sentence Kabalistic.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">The which, if hung ere fall of night<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Near Oberon’s couch, by subtle sleight<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of maker’s craft, and magic’s might,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Would show him such a vision<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As must his frenzy scare away:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“Ay, stranger secrets ’twill bewray,”<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Quoth she; yet more she would not say,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But sped the Elf on his mission.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">This Elfmel did anon relate<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">To his comrades, met in grave debate,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Who joyed to learn their evil estate<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Might now eftsoons be mended.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And twain in haste by secret stair<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To Oberon’s bower the mirror-bare,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">What time he bode all unaware<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of aught his Elves intended.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Methinks when dimness round them closed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The weariest Fay but seldom dozed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For new-blown glee with morn-flush rosed<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The drift of night’s pale lily;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or hope and fear, like boisterous breeze<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whereon the fluttering petal flees,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Frayed sleep, that loves on hearts at ease<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To light and linger stilly.<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 421px;"> -<a href="images/image055.jpg"> -<img src="images/image055.jpg" width="421" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span>  </p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Some soft as drowsy finches sung:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“Oh sweet, ye Fays, our lawns among<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To fleet fair days, from dawn’s flame sprung<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Till night star-bright,” they twittered;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">While others kept a mien more grave,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For somewhat still their minds misgave<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That care so blithe an end should have<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Which long their lives embittered.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">But all, thro’ hopes and fears, watched fain<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To see red light the east distain,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That Oberon should rouse again<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From slumbers gramarie-haunted;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For then they must behold a sign<br /></span> -<span class="i0">If verily to that spell benign<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Bad Brown Witch’s power malign<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Had yielded, quelled and daunted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And ’mid the mists of morning-tide<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thronged to the Palace court they hied;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And, lo, the massy door flung wide,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And Oberon thro’ it pacing.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Sad was his look, as if he grieved<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of long-deluding hope bereaved,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or fairest myth, too much believed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Truth-touched with finger effacing.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Forth paced he to as mute a hush<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As falls upon the twittering bush<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whence titmice watch the missel-thrush,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their motley tyrant, coming;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For never a Fay durst move, in fear<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Lest haply so should fail his ear<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The words he held his breath to hear<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Above his heart’s thick drumming.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Nor any sound from earth or sky<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That silence flawed, save if thereby<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A restive Earwig, stalled anigh,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Stamped foot and tugged at tether;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or shrilled a sharper note than that<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where overhead a gaunt-limbed Gnat,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Perched on a neighbouring roof-ridge, sat<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And twirled lean legs together.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“Strange tidings unto you I bring,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">My faithful Fays,” so spake the King<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“For in this night a wondrous thing<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Was shown me as I slumbered;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A wondrous thing and piteous both,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For against itself my heart grows wroth<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To think how I have abused your troth,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And worked you woes unnumbered.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Yea, bitter ’tis, since now my brain<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No longer reels thro’ sorcery’s bane,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To trace these tracks of labour vain,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This witless work to gaze on;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yon cumbrous heaps of stones and stocks<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Seem filled for me with flouts and mocks,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As if all round on boards and blocks<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I read my folly’s blazon.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Yet bitterer far to feel the while<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That every huge-erected pile<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Rose inch by inch with drudgery vile<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From Elfin race exacted.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And who your freedom’s traitorous thief?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ah, who but I, your chosen chief?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nay, think not I, but frenzy brief<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of mind with charms distracted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“And now the night-sent sign, that snaps<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This witch-knot black, the mist unwraps<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Wherein Fate hid our future haps,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And me its portent teacheth<br /></span> -<span class="i0">’Tis fit that yet one further task<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I of your tried allegiance ask—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I truly; ’tis no warlock’s mask<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That here your aid beseecheth:<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“I charge you that forthright ye haste<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To lay this cursëd city waste;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Let wall be breached, and site erased,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Pluck down both roof and rafter;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Leave not a stone on stone to stand;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ne’er shall your monarch, by this hand!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of Faery folk such toils demand<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">In all the ages after.”<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Thereat uprose a jubilant shout<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From all who hearkened round about,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For so they knew beyond a doubt<br /></span> -<span class="i0">King Oberon’s craze departed.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“Swift be the King’s command obeyed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Then hence” (they cried), “to greenwood glade,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where Elves, as liked them best estrayed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whilom have ranged light-hearted.”<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">But Oberon, still of mien deject,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their strain exultant heard and checked<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With lifted palm and pale aspect,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That motioned silence thro’ them.<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;"> -<a href="images/image063.jpg"> -<img src="images/image063.jpg" width="413" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"> - -<p><i>Copyright 1894 by Macmillan & Co.</i></p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span>  </p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Not so,” spake he in accents grave,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“No more for us the deep woods wave,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Tho’ dear the home their greenery gave,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Tho’ long our hearts may rue them;<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Tho’ fain were I, if this might be,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Down yon cool shades all care to flee,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And very fain would watch your glee<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Wax as in good days golden—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For, lo, the dream, whose power undid<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That ill witch-charm, a secret hid,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Which hath, while fouler harm it rid,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">So fair a hope withholden.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“Mark well, ye Fays: In years long fled,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">When Earthland first felt Elfin tread—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But whence, or how, or why we sped,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I wot our wisest knows not—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Fate who did our journeyings guide<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ne’er destined that, whate’er betide,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This ball must aye our dwelling bide,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A prison whose doors unclose not.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“That weird-night’s vision warns me so—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Had meshed us soon in webs of woe,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whence Fate hath willed we free should go,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Long since to me confiding<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The word whereby, if need befal,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Aërial chariots I may call,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Mage-fashioned, meet to waft us all<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Up ways heaven’s vault dividing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“Yet here so long, so blithe, we dwelled,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">So dear our haunts by flood and feld,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That evermore I hoped and held<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Such word need ne’er be spoken,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Now from me wrung by darkening doom,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As menace-murk of thunder-gloom<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Bids shun hurled bolt and bellowing boom<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ere yet the storm hath broken.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“No plainer speech my lips dare frame;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But, soothly, had ye seen the same,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Each idle moment would ye blame<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That us from flight doth sever,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Not loitering o’er what rests to do<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ere hence we float up yonder blue,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Self-exiled from the paths we knew—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For ever and for ever.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span>”<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">I trow that every Fay who heard<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Was grieved at heart by Oberon’s word,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yet none lamented, none demurred,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or against his will besought him;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For in his steadfast-mournful eyne<br /></span> -<span class="i0">They could some fatal truth divine,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Tho’ none might know what boding sign<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To stern resolve had wrought him.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And ’tis a riddle still ungues’t<br /></span> -<span class="i0">What vision from that mirror’s breast<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Was flashed athwart King Oberon’s rest,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">So filled with fear and wonder.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Some say that unto him were shown<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Days when round earth, once green and lone,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Shall whirl with cities all o’ergrown,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No Elf-ring’s circle asunder;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">And say he saw or ever he woke<br /></span> -<span class="i0">High heaven blurred out with riftless smoke,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where men ground down ’neath labour’s yoke<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Toil to the mad wheel’s thunder;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">World weeded o’er from prime to prime<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With want, and woe, and care, and crime,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Unmeet to tell in Faery rime,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That halts such burden under.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Howbeit, the Elves in eager crowd<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Made haste to raze those mansions proud;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Anon the rill-cliffs echoed loud<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To crash of timbers falling,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As toppling towers at onslaught rude<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Reeled down in wrack, and street-rows strewed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Their swift-wrought ruin, whence captives shrewd<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Slipped homeward, warily crawling.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Till soon, if wanderer chanced to fare<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Across that earth-patch smooth and bare,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He spied no Elfin doings there,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And only heard a rustle<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where shrivelled leaves their serest brown<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thro’ Autumn mists had drifted down.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This was the end of Elfintown,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Built with such coil and bustle.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Then Oberon spake the word of might<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That set the enchanted cars in sight;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But lore I lack to tell aright<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 422px;"> -<a href="images/image072.jpg"> -<img src="images/image072.jpg" width="422" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"> - -<p><i>Copyright 1894 by Macmillan & Co.</i></p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">{73}</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Where these had waited hidden.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Perchance the clear airs round us rolled<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In secret cells did them enfold,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Like evening dew that none behold<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Till to the sward ’tis slidden.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And who can say what wizardise<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Had fashioned them in marvellous wise,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And given them power to stoop and rise<br /></span> -<span class="i0">More high than thought hath travelled?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Somewhat of cloud their frames consist,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But more of meteor’s luminous mist,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">All girt with strands of seven-hued twist<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From rainbow’s verge unravelled.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">’Tis said, and I believe it well,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That whoso mounts their magic sell,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">{74}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Goes, if he list, invisible<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Beneath the broadest noonlight;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That virtue comes of Faery-fern,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Lone-lived where hill-slopes starward turn<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thro’ frore night hours that bid it burn<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Flame-fronded in the moonlight;<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">For this holds true—too true, alas!—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The sky that eve was clear as glass,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yet no man saw the Faeries pass<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where azure pathways glisten;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And true it is—too true, ay me—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That nevermore on lawn or lea<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Shall mortal man a Faery see,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Tho’ long he look and listen.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Only the twilit woods among<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">{75}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">A wild-winged breeze hath sometimes flung<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Dim echoes borne from strains soft-sung<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Beyond sky-reaches hollow;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Still further, fainter up the height,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Receding past the deep-zoned night—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Far chant of Fays who lead that flight,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Faint call of Fays who follow:<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">(<i>Fays following.</i>)    Red-rose mists o’erdrift<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Moth-moon’s glimmering white,<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Lit by sheen-silled west<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Barred with fiery bar;<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Fleeting, following swift,<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Whither across the night<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Seek we bourne of rest?<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">{76}</a></span> -<span class="i0">(<i>Fays leading.</i>)       Afar.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">(<i>Fays following.</i>) Vailing crest on crest<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Down the shadowy height,<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Earth with shores and seas<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Dropt, a dwindling gleam.<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Dusk, and bowery nest,<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Dawn, and dells dew-bright,<br /></span> -<span class="i20">What shall bide of these?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">(<i>Fays leading.</i>)     A dream.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">(<i>Fays following.</i>)     Fled, ah fled, our sight.<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Yea, but thrills of fire<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Throbbed adown yon deep,<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Faint and very far<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Who shall rede aright?<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Say, what wafts us nigher,<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Beckoning up the steep?<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">{77}</a></span><span class="i0">(<i>Fays leading.</i>) A star.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">(<i>Fays following.</i>)     List, a star! a star!<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Oh, our goal of light!<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Yet the winged shades sweep,<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Yet the void looms vast.<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Weary our wild dreams are:<br /></span> -<span class="i20">When shall cease our flight<br /></span> -<span class="i20">Soft on shores of sleep?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">(<i>Fays leading.</i>) At last.<br /></span> -</div></div> 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