THE FAIRY'S GIFT.
87
Oh, much the women wondered that they found
So little beauty in his brown, shy face.
How should a head like his be ever crowned
When there were brighter almost any place?
(True, he was half a bird in voice and grace.)
So little beauty in his brown, shy face.
How should a head like his be ever crowned
When there were brighter almost any place?
(True, he was half a bird in voice and grace.)
Yet if he only touched the wildest rose
The blossom seemed enchanted by his hand.
. . . And still the Princess came not. I suppose
She feared her greybeard father, whose command
Had bound the wrong ring on her hapless hand.
The blossom seemed enchanted by his hand.
. . . And still the Princess came not. I suppose
She feared her greybeard father, whose command
Had bound the wrong ring on her hapless hand.
But once in a rude chapel there had been
A wedding. He was not the groom that day.
The loveliest maiden that was ever seen
Lifted her eyes, and as he looked away
His face flushed like a flower, the old people say.
A wedding. He was not the groom that day.
The loveliest maiden that was ever seen
Lifted her eyes, and as he looked away
His face flushed like a flower, the old people say.
What did he do? As years and years went by
He tended sheep for some small insolent lord
(And loved the lambs), until there went a cry
That said: "There is no help—take up the sword."
Was he a General, too? No, on my word!
He tended sheep for some small insolent lord
(And loved the lambs), until there went a cry
That said: "There is no help—take up the sword."
Was he a General, too? No, on my word!
