THE FAERIE FAIR

The fairies hold a fair, they say, 

Beyond the hills when skies are grey 

And daylight things are laid away. 

And very strange their marketing, 

If we could see them on the wing 

With all the fairy ware they bring. 

Long strings they sell, of berries bright, 

And wet wind-fallen apples light 

Blown from the trees some starry night. 

Gay patches, too, for tattered wings, 

Gold bubbles blown by goblin things, 

And mushrooms for the fairy rings. 

Fine flutes are there, of magic reed, 

Whose piping sets the elves indeed 

A-dancing down the dewy mead. 

These barter they for bats and moles, 

For beaten silver bells and bowls, 

Bright from the caverns of the Trolls. 

And so they show, and sell and buy, 

With song and dance right merrily. 

Until the morning gilds the sky.