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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59726 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ BY THE SAME AUTHOR
+
+ Fairies and Chimneys
+ The Fairy Flute
+ The Rainbow Cat, and Other Stories
+
+
+
+
+ THE FAIRY GREEN
+
+
+ BY
+
+ ROSE FYLEMAN
+
+ AUTHOR OF "FAIRIES AND CHIMNEYS"
+
+
+
+ SEVENTH EDITION
+
+
+
+ METHUEN & CO. LTD.
+ 36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
+ LONDON
+
+
+
+
+ First Published ... October 23rd 1919
+ Second Edition ... December 1919
+ Third Edition ... November 1920
+ Fourth Edition ... May 1921
+ Fifth (School) Edition ... October 1921
+ Sixth Edition ... December 1921
+ Seventh Edition ... October 1922
+
+
+
+
+ TO ALL TEACHERS OF LITTLE CHILDREN
+ IN GENERAL AND ONE IN PARTICULAR
+
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS
+
+
+ FAIRIES
+
+ Vision
+ Please
+ The Daphne Bush
+ Alms in Autumn
+ Fairy Music
+ The Hayfield
+ This Island
+ Smith Square, Westminster
+ The Enchanted Princess
+ The Goblin to the Fairy Queen
+ The Fairy Queen to the Goblin
+ Fairies in Autumn
+ Trees and Fairies
+ Fairies in the Malverns
+ The Fairies send Messengers
+ Dunsley Glen
+
+
+ BIRD-LORE
+
+ Peacocks
+ The Cuckoo
+ The Rooks
+ The Robin
+ The Cock
+ The Grouse
+
+
+ A LITTLE GIRL
+
+ Before
+ Singing-Time
+ There are no Wolves in England now
+ Mrs. Brown
+ The Spring
+ Cousin Gwen
+ The Butcher
+ The Pillar-Box
+ The Dentist
+ Joys
+ My Policeman
+ The Porridge Plate
+ The Fairy Green
+ The Visit
+
+
+ ENVOI
+
+ To the Fairies
+
+
+
+
+ THE FAIRY GREEN
+
+
+ FAIRIES
+
+ VISION
+
+ I've seen her, I've seen her
+ Beneath an apple-tree;
+ The minute that I saw her there
+ With stars and dewdrops in her hair
+ I knew it must be she.
+ She's sitting on a dragon-fly
+ All shining green and gold;
+ The dragon-fly goes circling round
+ A little way above the ground--
+ She isn't taking hold.
+
+ I've seen her, I've seen her,
+ I never, never knew
+ That anything could be so sweet;
+ She has the tiniest hands and feet,
+ Her wings are very blue.
+ She holds her little head like _this_
+ Because she is a queen;
+ (I can't describe it all in words)
+ She's throwing kisses to the birds
+ And laughing in between.
+
+ I've seen her, I've seen her--
+ I simply ran and ran;
+ Put down your sewing quickly, please,
+ Let's hurry to the orchard trees
+ As softly as we can.
+ I had to go and leave her there,
+ I felt I couldn't stay,
+ I wanted you to see her too--
+ But oh, whatever shall we do
+ If she has flown away?
+
+
+
+
+ PLEASE
+
+ Please be careful where you tread,
+ The fairies are about;
+ Last night, when I had gone to bed,
+ I heard them creeping out.
+ And wouldn't it be a dreadful thing
+ To do a fairy harm?
+ To crush a little delicate wing
+ Or bruise a tiny arm?
+ They're all about the place, I know,
+ So do be careful where you go.
+
+ Please be careful what you say,
+ They're often very near,
+ And though they turn their heads away
+ They cannot help but hear.
+ And think how terribly you would mind
+ If, even for a joke,
+ You said a thing that seemed unkind
+ To the dear little fairy folk.
+ I'm sure they're simply everywhere,
+ So _promise_ me that you'll take care.
+
+
+
+
+ THE DAPHNE BUSH
+
+ All about the daphne bush the happy fairies went,
+ And spread abroad their silken hair to catch its magic scent;
+ They chanted little silver tunes, they danced the whole day long;
+ The rosy bush was ringed around with chains of coloured song.
+
+ They danced, they sang, they flung about their tiny fairy names,
+ Till swiftly over all the sky there ran the sunset flames;
+ Then high into the glowing air they leapt with joyful shout,
+ And with the ruddy shreds of mist they wrapped themselves about.
+
+ Into my quiet garden close they swiftly dropped again
+ (The music of their merriment tinkled like falling rain);
+ Laughing they swayed, while from their hair they shook the
+ warm perfume,
+ Till all the place seemed filled with clouds of drifting
+ daphne bloom.
+
+
+
+
+ ALMS IN AUTUMN
+
+ Spindle-wood, spindle-wood, will you lend me, pray,
+ A little flaming lantern to guide me on my way?
+ The fairies all have vanished from the meadow and the glen
+ And I would fain go seeking till I find them once again.
+ Lend me now a lantern that I may bear a light
+ To find the hidden pathway in the darkness of the night.
+
+ Ash-tree, ash-tree, throw me, if you please,
+ Throw me down a slender bunch of russet-gold keys.
+ I fear the gates of Fairyland may all be shut so fast
+ That nothing but your magic keys will ever take me past.
+ I'll tie them to my girdle, and as I go along
+ My heart will find a comfort in the tinkle of their song.
+
+ Holly-bush, holly-bush, help me in my task,
+ A pocketful of berries is all the alms I ask:
+ A pocketful of berries to thread in glowing strands
+ (I would not go a-visiting with nothing in my hands)
+ So fine will be the rosy chains, so gay, so glossy bright
+ They'll set the realms of Fairyland all dancing with delight.
+
+
+
+
+ FAIRY MUSIC
+
+ When the fiddlers play their tunes you may sometimes hear,
+ Very softly chiming in, magically clear,
+ Magically high and sweet, the tiny crystal notes
+ Of fairy voices bubbling free from tiny fairy throats.
+
+ When the birds at break of day chant their morning prayers,
+ Or on sunny afternoons pipe ecstatic airs,
+ Comes an added rush of sound to the silver din--
+ Songs of fairy troubadours gaily joining in.
+
+ When athwart the drowsy fields summer twilight falls,
+ Through the tranquil air there float elfin madrigals
+ And in wild November nights, on the winds astride,
+ Fairy hosts go rushing by, singing as they ride.
+
+ Every dream that mortals dream, sleeping or awake,
+ Every lovely fragile hope--these the fairies take,
+ Delicately fashion them and give them back again
+ In tender, limpid melodies that charm the hearts of men.
+
+
+
+
+ THE HAYFIELD
+
+ Over the field the fairies went
+ Singing and dancing and well content;
+ Over the field of sweet warm grass
+ I saw their shimmering cohorts pass.
+
+ The clover flamed to a ruddier glow,
+ The slender buttercups curtseyed low,
+ The wondering daisies, innocent-eyed,
+ Bowed their heads to the radiant tide.
+
+ And flirting butterflies, pearly white,
+ Left the flowers for a new delight,
+ Left their loves for the fairies' sake,
+ And fluttered dizzily in their wake.
+
+ Over the swaying grass they swept,
+ Over the hedgerow soared and leapt,
+ Broke and scattered in golden spray,
+ Gleamed and glittered--and melted away.
+
+
+
+
+ THE ISLAND
+
+ I know an island in a lake,
+ Green upon waters grey;
+ It has a strange enchanted air;
+ I hear the fairies singing there
+ When I go by that way.
+
+ They guard their hidden dwelling-place
+ With bands of stalwart reeds,
+ But sometimes, by a happy chance,
+ I see them all come out and dance
+ Upon the water-weeds.
+
+ One night, one summer night, I know
+ Suddenly I shall wake,
+ And very softly hasten down
+ And out beyond the sleeping town
+ To find my fairy lake.
+
+ I shall not need to seek a boat,
+ It will be moored, I think,
+ Within a tiny pebbled bay
+ Where meadow-sweet and mallow sway
+ Close to the water's brink.
+
+ The moon from shore to shadowy shore
+ Will make a shining trail,
+ And I shall sing their fairy song
+ As joyfully I float along--
+ I shall not need a sail.
+
+ And peering through a starlit haze
+ I presently shall see,
+ Where swift the waiting reeds unclose,
+ The fairies all in rows and rows
+ Waiting to welcome me.
+
+
+
+
+ SMITH SQUARE, WESTMINSTER
+
+ In Smith Square, Westminster, the houses stand so prim,
+ With slender railings at their feet and windows straight and slim;
+ And all day long they staidly stare with gentle placid gaze,
+ And dream of joyous happenings in splendid bygone days.
+
+ In Smith Square, Westminster, you must not make a noise,
+ No shrill-voiced vendors harbour there, no shouting errand-boys;
+ But very busy gentlemen step swiftly out and in
+ With little leather cases and umbrellas neatly thin.
+
+ Yet sometimes when the summer night her starry curtain spreads,
+ And all the busy gentlemen are sleeping in their beds,
+ You hear a gentle humming like the humming of a hive,
+ And Smith Square, Westminster, begins to come alive.
+
+ For all the houses start to sing, honey-sweet and low,
+ The tender little lovely songs of long and long ago,
+ And all the fairies round about come hastening up in crowds,
+ Until the quiet air is filled with rainbow-coloured clouds.
+
+ On roof and rail and chimney-pot they delicately perch,
+ They hang like jewelled fringes on the ledges of the church;
+ They dance about the roadway upon nimble, noiseless feet,
+ While the houses keep on chanting with a soft enticing beat.
+
+ And still they weave their sparkling webs and still they
+ leap and whirl
+ Until the far horizon's edge is faintly rimmed with pearl,
+ And the morning breeze blows out the stars discreetly, one by one,
+ And the sentries on the Abbey signal down--"The Sun--the Sun!"
+
+ And long before the butlers stumble drowsily downstairs,
+ And long before their masters have begun to say their prayers,
+ The fairies all have pranced away upon the morning beams,
+ And Smith Square, Westminster, is wrapped once more in dreams.
+
+
+
+
+ THE ENCHANTED PRINCESS
+
+ She wanders in the forest with wide and solemn eyes;
+ A little shade of wilderment across her forehead lies.
+
+ No timid woodland creature her footfall need affright,
+ The shadow of her floating hair is not more soft and light.
+
+ She hears the gentle cadence of bird and wind and stream,
+ They make a little song for her, like singing in a dream.
+
+ Across the distant valley the pleasant sunbeams fall;
+ The children in the cowslip field merrily laugh and call.
+
+ She does not hear their laughter, she does not feel the sun,
+ She cannot leave the shadowed wood until the spell is done.
+
+
+
+
+ THE GOBLIN TO THE FAIRY QUEEN
+
+ What do you lack, queen, queen,
+ That is precious and fine and rare?
+ A jewelled snood that shall lie between
+ The delicate waves of your hair?
+ I will ride through the sky on the evening wind
+ With a golden needle and thread,
+ And string up the tiniest stars I can find,
+ To glitter about your head.
+
+ What can I do, queen, queen,
+ To hasten the hours along
+ When you grow weary of woodland green,
+ Weary of woodland song?
+ A cage of gossamer gold I will tie
+ On to a skylark's wing,
+ And there you shall hang in the midst of the sky
+ And tremble to hear him sing.
+
+ Grant me a boon, queen, queen;
+ This is the boon that I ask--
+ Let me do service, mighty or mean,
+ Give me a task, a task.
+ Are there no jackanapes giants to slay?
+ Are there no dragons to fight?
+ Nothing shall daunt me by dark or by day;
+ Make me your goblin knight!
+
+
+
+
+ THE FAIRY QUEEN TO THE GOBLIN
+
+ Last night I heard a singing--a singing in my dreams,
+ It wandered through my land of sleep like little silver streams;
+ Like little purling silver streams that gently laugh and coo--
+ Goblin with the shining eyes, goblin, was it you?
+
+ Softer than the tender croon of my happy doves,
+ Sweeter than my nightingales pouring forth their loves,
+ Clearer than my valiant lark triumphant in the blue;
+ Goblin with the whimsic smile, goblin, was it you?
+
+ All night long the singer stayed close beside my bower,
+ Weaving his enchanted songs, till that magic hour
+ When the early morning light creeps across the dew;
+ Goblin with the steadfast heart, goblin, was it you?
+
+
+
+
+ FAIRIES IN AUTUMN
+
+ You perch upon the leaves where the trees are very high,
+ And you all shout together as the wind goes by;
+ The merry mad wind sets the leaves all afloat,
+ And off you go a-sailing in an airy wee boat.
+
+ You fly to the edges of a grim grey cloud,
+ And you all start a-dancing and a-singing very loud;
+ The cloud melts away in a shower of peevish rain
+ And you slide down from heaven on a slim silver chain.
+
+
+
+
+ TREES AND FAIRIES
+
+ The larch-tree gives them needles
+ To stitch their gossamer things;
+ Carefully, cunningly toils the oak
+ To shape the cups of the fairy folk;
+ The sycamore gives them wings.
+
+ The lordly fir-tree rocks them
+ High on his swinging sails;
+ The hawthorn fashions their tiny spears;
+ The whispering alder charms their ears
+ With soft, mysterious tales.
+
+ The chestnut gives them candles
+ To make their ballroom fine;
+ And the elder-bush and the hazel tree
+ Assist their delicate revelry
+ With nuts and fragrant wine.
+
+
+
+
+ FAIRIES IN THE MALVERNS
+
+ As I walked over Hollybush Hill
+ The sun was low and the winds were still,
+ And never a whispering branch I heard
+ Nor ever the tiniest call of a bird.
+
+ And when I came to the topmost height
+ Oh, but I saw such a wonderful sight:
+ All about on the hill-crest there
+ The fairies danced in the golden air.
+
+ Danced and frolicked with never a sound
+ In and out in a magical round;
+ Wide and wider the circle grew
+ Then suddenly melted into the blue.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+ As I walked down into Eastnor Vale
+ The stars already were twinkling pale,
+ And over the spaces of dew-white grass
+ I saw a marvellous pageant pass.
+
+ Tiny riders on tiny steeds,
+ Decked with blossoms and armed with reeds,
+ With gossamer banners floating far
+ And a radiant queen in an ivory car.
+
+ The beeches spread their petticoats wide
+ And curtseyed low upon either side;
+ The rabbits scurried across the glade
+ To peep at the glittering cavalcade.
+
+ Far and farther I saw them go
+ And vanish into the woods below;
+ Then over the shadowy woodland ways
+ I wandered home in a sweet amaze.
+
+ * * * * * * *
+
+ But Malvern people need fear no ill
+ Since fairies bide in their country still.
+
+
+
+
+ THE FAIRIES SEND MESSENGERS
+
+ They sent a stout little red-breast bird;
+ He sang from the garden wall;
+ Surely, oh, surely the children heard,
+ But never they came to his call.
+
+ They sent a capering, glad young breeze;
+ He shouted, he rattled about;
+ But the children sat with their books on their knees
+ And gave no heed to his shout.
+
+ They sent a bee in a velvet coat,
+ Busily, busily gay;
+ He hummed his tale on a spirited note
+ But the children chased him away.
+
+ They sent a brave little fairy sprite;
+ She peeped round the window frame;
+ The children looked, and their eyes grew bright,
+ And they came!
+
+
+
+
+ DUNSLEY GLEN
+
+ There is no road to Dunsley Glen,
+ I should not know the way again
+ Because the fairies took me there,
+ Down by a little rocky stair--
+ A little stair all twists and turns,
+ Half hidden by the spreading ferns.
+
+ High overhead the trees were green,
+ With little bits of blue between,
+ So high that they could see, I'm sure,
+ Beyond the wood, beyond the moor,
+ The water many miles away
+ Mistily shining in the bay.
+
+ Deep in the glen a streamlet cool
+ Ran down into a magic pool,
+ With mossy caverns all about
+ Where fairies fluttered in and out;
+ Their sparkling wings and golden hair
+ Made dancing twinkles here and there.
+
+ I stood and watched them at their play
+ Until I dared no longer stay;
+ I knew that I might seek and seek
+ On every day of every week
+ Ere I should find the place again--
+ There is no road to Dunsley Glen.
+
+
+
+
+ BIRD-LORE
+
+ PEACOCKS
+
+ Peacocks sweep the fairies' rooms;
+ They use their folded tails for brooms;
+ But fairy dust is brighter far
+ Than any mortal colours are,
+ And all about their tails it clings
+ In strange designs of rounds and rings:
+ And that is why they strut about
+ And proudly spread their feathers out.
+
+
+
+
+ THE CUCKOO
+
+ The Cuckoo is a tell-tale,
+ A mischief-making bird;
+ He flies to East, he flies to West
+ And whispers into every nest
+ The wicked things he's heard;
+ He loves to spread his naughty lies,
+ He laughs about it as he flies:
+ "Cuckoo," he cries, "cuckoo, cuckoo,
+ It's true, it's true."
+
+ And when the fairies catch him
+ His busy wings they dock,
+ They shut him up for evermore
+ (He may not go beyond the door)
+ Inside a wooden clock;
+ Inside a wooden clock he cowers
+ And has to tell the proper hours--
+ "Cuckoo," he cries, "cuckoo, cuckoo,
+ It's true, it's true."
+
+
+
+
+ THE ROOKS
+
+ High in the elm-trees sit the rooks,
+ Or flit about with busy looks
+ And solemn, ceaseless caws.
+ Small wonder they are so intent,
+ They are the fairies' Parliament--
+ They make the fairy laws.
+
+ They never seem to stop all day,
+ And you can hear from far away
+ Their busy chatter-chat.
+ They work so very hard indeed
+ You'd wonder that the fairies need
+ So many laws as that.
+
+
+
+
+ THE ROBIN
+
+ The robin is the fairies' page;
+ They keep him neatly dressed
+ For country service or for town
+ In dapper livery of brown
+ And little scarlet vest.
+
+ On busy errands all day long
+ He hurries to and fro
+ With watchful eyes and nimble wings--
+ There are not very many things
+ The robin doesn't know.
+
+ And he can tell you, if he will,
+ The latest fairy news:
+ The quaint adventures of the King,
+ And whom the Queen is visiting,
+ And where she gets her shoes.
+
+ And lately, when the fairy Court
+ Invited me to tea,
+ He stood behind the Royal Chair;
+ And here I solemnly declare,
+ When he discovered I was there.
+ That robin _winked_ at me.
+
+
+
+
+ THE COCK
+
+ The kindly cock is the fairies' friend,
+ He warns them when their revels must end;
+ He never forgets to give the word,
+ For the cock is a thoroughly punctual bird.
+
+ And since he grieves that he never can fly.
+ Like all the other birds, up in the sky,
+ The fairies put him now and again
+ High on a church for a weather-vane.
+
+ Little for sun or for rain he cares;
+ He turns about with the proudest airs
+ And chuckles with joy as the clouds go past
+ To think he is up in the sky at last.
+
+
+
+
+ THE GROUSE
+
+ The Grouse that lives on the moorland wide
+ Is filled with a most ridiculous pride;
+ He thinks that it all belongs to him,
+ And every one else must obey his whim.
+ When the queer wee folk who live on the moors
+ Come joyfully leaping out of their doors
+ To frisk about on the warm sweet heather
+ Laughing and chattering all together,
+ He looks askance at their rollicking play
+ And calls to them in the angriest way:
+ "You're a feather-brained, foolish, frivolous pack,
+ Go back, you rascally imps, go back!"
+
+ But little enough they heed his shout,
+ Over the rocks they tumble about;
+ They chase each other over the ling;
+ They kick their heels in the heather and sing:
+ "Oho, Mr. Grouse, you'd best beware,
+ Or some fine day, if you don't take care,
+ The witch who lives in the big brown bog
+ With a wise old weasel, a rat and a frog,
+ Will come a-capering over the fell
+ And put you under a horrible spell;
+ Your feathers will moult and your voice will crack--
+ Go back, you silly old bird, go back!"
+
+
+
+
+ A LITTLE GIRL
+
+ BEFORE
+
+ Before I was a little girl I was a little bird,
+ I could not laugh, I could not dance, I could not speak a word;
+ But all about the woods I went and up into the sky--
+ And isn't it a pity I've forgotten how to fly?
+
+ I often came to visit you. I used to sit and sing
+ Upon our purple lilac-bush that smells so sweet in Spring;
+ But when you thanked me for my song of course you never knew
+ I soon should be a little girl and come to live with you.
+
+
+
+
+ SINGING-TIME
+
+ I wake in the morning early
+ And always, the very first thing,
+ I poke out my head and I sit up in bed
+ And I sing and I sing and I sing.
+
+
+
+
+ THERE ARE NO WOLVES IN ENGLAND NOW
+
+ There are no wolves in England now, nor any grizzly bears;
+ You could not meet them after dark upon the attic stairs.
+
+ When Nanna goes to fetch the tea there is no need at all
+ To leave the nursery door ajar in case you want to call.
+
+ And mother says, in fairy tales, those bits are never true
+ That tell you all the dreadful deeds that wicked fairies do.
+
+ And wouldn't it be silly for a great big girl like me
+ To be the leastest bit afraid of things that couldn't be?
+
+
+
+
+ MRS. BROWN
+
+ As soon as I'm in bed at night
+ And snugly settled down,
+ The little girl I am by day
+ Goes very suddenly away,
+ And then I'm Mrs. Brown.
+
+ I have a family of six,
+ And all of them have names,
+ The girls are Joyce and Nancy Maud,
+ The boys are Marmaduke and Claude
+ And Percival and James.
+
+ We have a house with twenty rooms
+ A mile away from town;
+ I think it's good for girls and boys
+ To be allowed to make a noise--
+ And so does Mr. Brown.
+
+ We do the most exciting things,
+ Enough to make you creep;
+ And on and on and on we go--
+ I sometimes wonder if I know
+ When I have gone to sleep.
+
+
+
+
+ THE SPRING
+
+ A little mountain spring I found
+ That fell into a pool;
+ I made my hands into a cup
+ And caught the sparkling water up--
+ It tasted fresh and cool.
+
+ A solemn little frog I spied
+ Upon the rocky brim;
+ He looked so boldly in my face,
+ I'm certain that he thought the place
+ Belonged by rights to him.
+
+
+
+
+ COUSIN GWEN
+
+ I like my cousin very much
+ Because of course one should;
+ She comes to spend the day with me
+ And stays to dinner and to tea,
+ And she is very good.
+
+ Her shining hair is smooth and neat,
+ She always wears a plait,
+ And French Translation she can do
+ And Algebra and Science too,
+ And clever things like that.
+
+ My Nanna thinks I ought to try
+ And copy Cousin Gwen;
+ But I could never be like her,
+ Indeed, indeed, I wish I were--
+ Excepting now and then.
+
+
+
+
+ THE BUTCHER
+
+ The butcher's shop is open wide
+ And everyone can see inside;
+ He stands behind the rows of meat
+ And gazes out into the street.
+
+ He always wears a coat of blue,
+ He has a linen apron too,
+ And with his knife he rather looks
+ Like ogres in the story-books.
+
+ He smiles and nods and says "Good-day"
+ If nurse and I go by that way
+ When we are shopping in the town--
+ I've never seen him sitting down.
+
+
+
+
+ THE PILLAR-BOX
+
+ The pillar-box is fat and red,
+ It's mouth is very wide,
+ It wears a Tammy on its head--
+ It must be dark inside.
+
+ And really it's the greatest fun
+ When mother lets me stop
+ And post the letters one by one--
+ I like to hear them drop.
+
+
+
+
+ THE DENTIST
+
+ I'd like to be a dentist with a plate upon the door
+ And a little bubbling fountain in the middle of the floor;
+ With lots of tiny bottles all arranged in coloured rows
+ And a page-boy with a line of silver buttons down his clothes.
+
+ I'd love to polish up the things and put them every day
+ Inside the darling chests of drawers all tidily away;
+ And every Sunday afternoon when nobody was there
+ I should go riding up and down upon the velvet chair.
+
+
+
+
+ JOYS
+
+ I'm rather fond of medicine, especially if it's pink,
+ Or else the fizzy-wizzy kind that makes you want to blink;
+ And eucalyptus lozenges are very nice I think.
+
+ I like it when I'm really ill and have to stay in bed
+ With mother's grown-up pillows all frilly round my head;
+ But measles is the funniest, because you get so red.
+
+
+
+
+ MY POLICEMAN
+
+ He is always standing there
+ At the corner of the Square;
+ He is very big and fine
+ And his silver buttons shine.
+
+ All the carts and taxis do
+ Everything he tells them to,
+ And the little errand-boys
+ When they pass him make no noise.
+
+ Though I seem so very small
+ I am not afraid at all;
+ He and I are friends, you see,
+ And he always smiles at me.
+
+ Once I wasn't very good
+ Rather near to where he stood,
+ But he never said a word
+ Though I'm sure he must have heard.
+
+ Nurse has a policeman too
+ (Hers has brown eyes, mine has blue),
+ Hers is sometimes on a horse,
+ But I like mine best of course.
+
+
+
+
+ THE PORRIDGE PLATE
+
+ My porridge plate at Grannie's house is white and misty blue,
+ And as I eat the porridge up the picture all comes through;
+ There is a castle on a lake, a tall tall lady too.
+
+ The castle has a flight of steps and lots of pointed towers,
+ A garden and a summer-house a little bit like ours,
+ And trees with leaves like feathers and the most enormous flowers.
+
+ I don't care much for porridge in an ordinary way
+ (Though it's jolly when there's treacle and your Nanna
+ lets you play),
+ But when I stop at Grannie's house I like it every day.
+
+
+
+
+ THE FAIRY GREEN
+
+ Upon the magic green I stood
+ Within the fairy ling,
+ Close to the little rustling wood
+ Where fairies always sing.
+
+ I was a little bit afraid,
+ I kept my eyes shut tight,
+ While all around they danced and played--
+ I felt the shining light.
+
+ Nearer and nearer still they came,
+ They touched my dress, my hair;
+ They called me softly by my name;
+ I heard them everywhere.
+
+ I never moved, I never spoke
+ (Oh, but my heart beat fast),
+ And so the little fairy folk
+ All went away at last,
+
+ To-morrow I shall go again
+ And seek the magic place,
+ I shall not be so foolish then,
+ I shall not hide my face.
+
+ But I shall stay for hours and hours
+ Until the daylight ends,
+ And we shall dance among the flowers
+ And be the greatest friends.
+
+ And I shall learn their fairy song;
+ And when I come away
+ Shall dream of it the whole night long
+ And sing it every day.
+
+
+
+
+ THE VISIT
+
+ When I went to Fairyland, visiting the Queen,
+ I rode upon a peacock, blue and gold and green;
+ Silver was the harness, crimson were the reins,
+ All hung about with little bells that swung on silken chains.
+
+ When I went to Fairyland, indeed you cannot think
+ What pretty things I had to eat, what pretty things to drink.
+ And did you know that butterflies could sing like little birds?
+ And did you guess that fairy-talk is not a bit like words?
+
+ When I went to Fairyland--of all the lovely things!--
+ They really taught me how to fly, they gave me fairy wings;
+ And every night I listen for a tapping on the pane--
+ I want so very much to go to Fairyland again.
+
+
+
+
+ ENVOI
+
+ TO THE FAIRIES
+
+ Kindly little fairy friends,
+ Here I fain would make amends;
+ For I seek my verses through,
+ Find no word of thanks to you.
+
+ Many, oh, so many times
+ You have helped me with my rhymes;
+ When my tiny songs were dumb
+ Oft and often have you come;
+ Oft and often have I heard,
+ Sweeter than the song of bird,
+ Fairy voices, crystal-clear,
+ Very softly at my ear
+ (While you poised on fluttering wings)
+ Telling me enchanting things.
+ Often at the fall of night,
+ In the gentle, dusky light
+ Through my garden as I went,
+ To my joy and wonderment
+ Suddenly the air around
+ Blossomed into lovely sound,
+ And I knew that you were there
+ All about me everywhere.
+
+ Could I tell what I have heard,
+ Magic sound and magic word,
+ There would be a book indeed
+ Fit for all the world to read.
+ But alas!--For all my pains,
+ Of those sweet mysterious strains
+ I can only hope to catch
+ Here an echo, there a snatch.
+ Yours is any happy line,
+ All that's done amiss is mine.
+
+
+
+
+The author's best thanks are due to the Editor and Proprietors of
+_Punch_, through whose courtesy she is able to include in this
+collection a number of verses which have already appeared in that paper.
+
+
+
+PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fairy Green, by Rose Fyleman
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59726 ***