FAIRY FOLK AND FABLE.

ARIEL'S SONG.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

WHERE the bee sucks there suck I;
In a cowslip's bell I lie;

There I couch when owls dọ cry;

On the bat's back I do fly

After summer merrily.

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

DEATH OF OBERON.

WALTER THORNBURY.

TOLL the lilies' silver bells!

Oberon, the king, is dead!

In her grief the crimson rose

All her velvet leaves has shed.

Toll the lilies' silver bells!

Oberon is dead and gone!

He who looked an emperor

When his glow-worm crown was on.

Toll the lilies' silver bells!

Slay the dragon-fly, his steed;

Dig his grave within the ring

Of the mushrooms in the mead.

THE MERMAID.

ALFRED TENNYSON.

WHO would be,
A mermaid fair,
Singing alone,
Combing her hair
Under the sea,

In a golden curl

With a comb of pearl,

On a throne?

I would be a mermaid fair;

I would sing to myself the whole of the day;
With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair;
And still as I combed I would sing and say,
"Who is it loves me? who loves not me?"

I would comb my hair till my ringlets would fall
Low adown, low adown,

From under my starry sea-bud crown

Low adown and around,

And I should look like a fountain of gold

Springing alone

With a shrill inner sound,

Over the throne

In the midst of the hall.

THE FORSAKEN MERMAN.

MATTHEW ARNOLD.

COME, dear children, let us away;
Down and away below.

Now my brothers call from the bay;
Now the great winds shorewards blow;
Now the salt tides seawards flow;
Now the wild white horses play,
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.
Children dear, let us away.
This way, this way.

Call her once before you go.
Call once yet,

In a voice that she will know:
"Margaret! Margaret!"

Children's voices should be dear
(Call once more) to a mother's ear:
Children's voices wild with pain.

Surely she will come again.
Call her once, and come away.
This way, this way.