PICTURES, FANCIES, AND MEMORIES. THE PIPER. PIPING down the valleys wild, 66 And he, laughing, said to me, 'Pipe a song about a lamb !" So I piped with merry cheer. Piper, pipe that song again!" So I piped; he wept to hear. "Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe; While he wept with joy to hear. "Piper, sit thou down, and write In a book, that all may read! And I plucked a hollow reed, And I made a rural pen, And I stained the water clear ; Every child may joy to hear. William Blake. SONG OF THE ELFIN MILLER. FULL merrily rings the millstone round, So the meal comes in a shower; The miller he's a worldly man, So draw the sluice of the churl's dam, The top of the grain on hill and plain One elf goes chasing the wild bat's wing Runs glimmering 'mong the mosses : O haste, my brown elf, bring me corn From Bonnie Blackwood plains; Go, gentle fairy, bring me grain From green Dalgona mains; But, pride of a' at Closeburn ha', Fair is the corn and fatter; Hilloah my hopper is heaped high; Haste, elves, and turn yon mountain burn- Ha bravely done, my wanton elves, And meet me soon, ere sinks the moon, - Allan Cuningham. THE FAIRY FOLK. Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We dare n't go a-hunting For fear of little men; And white owl's feather ! |