Fairy Song

227

"OH! WHERE DO FAIRIES HIDE THEIR

HEADS?"

OH! where do fairies hide their heads,

When snow lies on the hills,

When frost has spoiled their mossy beds,

And crystallized their rills?
Beneath the moon they cannot trip
In circles o'er the plain;

And draughts of dew they cannot sip,
Till green leaves come again.

Perhaps, in small, blue diving-bells
They plunge beneath the waves,
Inhabiting the wreathed shells
That lie in coral caves.
Perhaps, in red Vesuvius

Carousals they maintain;

And cheer their little spirits thus,
Till green leaves come again.

When they return, there will be mirth

And music in the air.

And fairy wings upon the earth,

And mischief everywhere.

The maids, to keep the elves aloof,
Will bar the doors in vain;
No key-hole will be fairy-proof,
When green leaves come again.

Thomas Haynes Bayly [1797-1839]

FAIRY SONG

From "Amyntas"

WE the Fairies, blithe and antic,
Of dimensions not gigantic,

Though the moonshine mostly keep us,

Oft in orchards frisk and peep us.

Stolen sweets are always sweeter,
Stolen kisses much completer,
Stolen looks are nice in chapels,
Stolen, stolen be your apples.

When to bed the world is bobbing,
Then's the time for orchard-robbing;

Yet the fruit were scarce worth peeling
Were it not for stealing, stealing.

Translated by Leigh Hunt from the Latin of Thomas Randolph

FAIRY SONG

HAVE ye left the greenwood lone?

Are your steps forever gone?

Fairy King and Elfin Queen,

Come ye to the sylvan scene,

[1605-1635]

From your dim and distant shore,

Never more?

Shall the pilgrim never hear

With a thrill of joy and fear,
In the hush of moonlight hours,
Voices from the folded flowers,
Faint sweet flutter-notes as of yore,
Never more?

"Mortal! ne'er shall bowers of earth
Hear again our midnight mirth:
By our brooks and dingles green
Since unhallowed steps have been,
Ours shall thread the forests hoar
Never more.

"Ne'er on earth-born lily's stem
Will we hang the dewdrop's gem;
Ne'er shall reed or cowslip's head
Quiver to our dancing tread,
By sweet fount or murmuring shore,

Never more!"

Felicia Dorothea Hemans [1793-1835]

Queen Mab

229

FAIRY SONG

SHED no tear! O, shed no tear!

The flower will bloom another year.
Weep no more! O, weep no more!

Young buds sleep in the root's white core.
Dry your eyes! O, dry your eyes!
For I was taught in Paradise

To ease my breast of melodies,—

Overhead! look overhead!

Shed no tear.

'Mong the blossoms white and red,—
Look up, look up! I flutter now
On this flush pomegranate bough.
See me! 'tis this silvery bill
Ever cures the good man's ill,—
Shed no tear! O, shed no tear!
The flower will bloom another year.
Adieu, adieu-I fly-adieu!

I vanish in the heaven's blue,—

Adieu, adieu!

John Keats [1795-1821]

QUEEN MAB

A LITTLE fairy comes at night,

Her eyes are blue, her hair is brown,

With silver spots upon her wings,

And from the moon she flutters down.

She has a little silver wand,

And when a good child goes to bed She waves her hand from right to left, And makes a circle round its head.

And then it dreams of pleasant things,
Of fountains filled with fairy fish,

And trees that bear delicious fruit,

And bow their branches at a wish:

Of arbors filled with dainty scents

From lovely flowers that never fade; Bright flies that glitter in the sun,

And glow-worms shining in the shade:

And talking birds with gifted tongues,
For singing songs and telling tales,
And pretty dwarfs to show the way
Through fairy hills and fairy dales.

But when a bad child goes to bed,

From left to right she weaves her rings, And then it dreams all through the night Of only ugly horrid things!

Then lions come with glaring eyes,
And tigers growl, a dreadful noise,
And ogres draw their cruel knives,

To shed the blood of girls and boys.

Then stormy waves rush on to drown,

Or raging flames come scorching round, Fierce dragons hover in the air,

And serpents crawl along the ground.

Then wicked children wake and weep,
And wish the long black gloom away;
But good ones love the dark, and find
The night as pleasant as the day.

Thomas Hood (1799-1845]

THE FAIRIES OF THE CALDON-LOW

A MIDSUMMER LEGEND

"AND where have you been, my Mary,

And where have you been from me?"

"I've been to the top of the Caldon-Low,
The midsummer night to see!"

The Fairies of the Caldon-Low

"And what did you see, my Mary,

All up on the Caldon-Low?" "I saw the glad sunshine come down, And I saw the merry winds blow."

"And what did you hear, my Mary,
All up on the Caldon-Hill?"
"I heard the drops of the water made,
And the ears of the green corn fill."

"Oh, tell me all, my Mary—

All-all that ever you know;
For you must have seen the fairies
Last night on the Caldon-Low!"

"Then take me on your knee, mother,
And listen, mother of mine:

A hundred fairies danced last night,
And the harpers they were nine.

"And their harp-strings rang so merrily
To their dancing feet so small;
But, oh! the words of their talking
Were merrier far than all!"

"And what were the words, my Mary, That you did hear them say?"

"I'll tell you all, my mother,

But let me have my way.

"Some of them played with the water, And rolled it down the hill;

'And this,' they said, 'shall speedily turn The poor old miller's mill.

"For there has been no water

Ever since the first of May; And a busy man will the miller be

At the dawning of the day!

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