A LOVER'S QUARREL AMONG THE FAIRIES

A moonlight moor. Fairies leading a child.

Male Fairies: Do not fear us, earthly maid!

We will lead you hand in hand

By the willows in the glade,

By the gorse on the high land,

By the pasture where the lambs

Shall awake with lonely bleat,

Shivering closer to their dams

From the rustling of our feet.

You will with the banshee chat,

And will find her good at heart,

Sitting on a warm smooth mat

In the green hill's inmost part.

We will bring a crown of gold

Bending humbly every knee,

Now thy great white doll to hold --

Oh, so happy would we be!

Ah it is so very big,

And we are so very small!

So we dance a fairy jig

To the fiddle's rise and fall.

Yonder see the fairy girls

All their jealousy display,

Lift their chins and toss their curls,

Lift their chins and turn away.

See you, brother, Cranberry Fruit --

He! ho! ho! the merry blade! --

Hugs and pets and pats yon newt,

Teasing every wilful maid.

Girl Fairies: Lead they one with foolish care,

Deafening us with idle sound --

One whose breathing shakes the air,

One whose footfall shakes the ground.

Come you, Coltsfoot, Mousetail, come!

Come I know where, far away,

Owls there be whom age makes numb;

Come and tease them till the day.

Puffed like puff-balls on a tree,

Scoff they at the modern earth --

Ah! how large mice used to be

In their days of youthful mirth!

Come, beside a sandy lake,

Feed a fire with stems of grass;

Roasting berries steam and shake --

Talking hours swiftly pass!

Long before the morning fire

Wake the larks upon the green.

Yonder foolish ones will tire

Of their tall, new-fangled queen.

They will lead her home again

To the orchard-circled farm;

At the house of weary men

Raise the door-pin with alarm,

And come kneeling on one knee,

While we shake our heads and scold

This their wanton treachery,

And our slaves be as of old.