THE FAIRY'S GIFT.A STORY TOLD TO A LITTLE BOY.
Above his cradle such a glimmer of green
As might be worn in May by elfin folk
His mother in the dew had sometimes seen,
And in her heart she knew their threshold oak
Held some leaf-coloured eerie hood and cloak.
As might be worn in May by elfin folk
His mother in the dew had sometimes seen,
And in her heart she knew their threshold oak
Held some leaf-coloured eerie hood and cloak.
For once, when in a wood at dusk she found
And cared with tears for the forlornest bird,
That sang the sweeter through the huntsman's wound,
A promise made of music she had heard—
Too fine to trust to any mortal word.
And cared with tears for the forlornest bird,
That sang the sweeter through the huntsman's wound,
A promise made of music she had heard—
Too fine to trust to any mortal word.
But through the window of a dream, alack!
Her brooding secret flew at last; and when
Could any woman call a secret back?
Her peasant husband lordliest of men
Grew, as he whispered the weird story, then.
Her brooding secret flew at last; and when
Could any woman call a secret back?
Her peasant husband lordliest of men
Grew, as he whispered the weird story, then.
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