"Now this is all I heard, mother, And all that I did see; So, pr'ythee, make my bed, mother, - MARY HOWITT. Cal'don Low, a hill in England; corn, this, in England, means wheat, rye, oats, or barley, not our Indian corn; shrill, high and piercing; mil'dew, a kind of mold; dank, damp; blithe, gay, happy; lint, flax; croft, a garden; pr'yth'ee, I pray thee, I beg thee. Who are talking in this poem? Where has Mary been? What has she seen and heard there? What things were the fairies planning to do for people Mary knew? What made the fairies disappear? How did Mary find that they had kept their word? O LADY MOON O LADY MOON, your horns point toward the east: 5 Shine, be increased; O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the west: Wane, be at rest. -CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. 37 THE FISHER BOY URASHIMA LONG, long ago there lived on the coast of the sea of Japan a young fisherman named Urashima, a kindly lad, and clever with his rod and line. Well, one day he went out in his boat to fish. 5 But instead of catching any fish, what do you think he caught? caught? Why! a great big tortoise, with a hard shell and such a funny wrinkled old face and a tiny tail. Now I must tell you something which very likely you don't know; and that 10 is that tortoises always live a thousand years, at least Japanese tortoises do. So Urashima thought to himself: "A fish would do for my dinner just as well as this tortoise, in fact better. Why should I kill the poor thing, and prevent it 15 from enjoying itself for another nine hundred years? No, no! I won't be so cruel. I am sure mother wouldn't like me to." And with these words, he threw the tortoise back into the sea. ... The next thing that happened was that Urashima 20 went to sleep in his boat; for it was one of those hot summer days when almost everybody enjoys a nap of an afternoon. And as he slept, there came up from beneath the waves a beautiful girl, who got into the boat and said: "I am the daughter of the Sea God, and I live with my father in the Dragon Palace beyond the waves. It was not a 5 tortoise that you caught just now, and so kindly threw back into the water instead of killing it. It was myself. My father, the Sea God, had sent me to see whether you were good or bad. We now know that you are a good, kind boy who doesn't 10 like to do cruel things; and so I have come to fetch you. You shall marry me, if you like; and we will live happily together for a thousand years in the Dragon Palace beyond the deep blue sea." So Urashima took one oar, and the Sea God's 15 daughter took the other; and they rowed, and they rowed, till at last they came to the Dragon Palace, where the Sea God lived and ruled as king over all the dragons and the tortoises and the fishes. Oh dear! what a lovely place it was! The walls of the Palace were of coral, the trees had emeralds for leaves and rubies for berries, the fishes' scales were of silver, and the dragons' tails 20 of solid gold. Just think of the very most beautiful things that you have ever seen, and put them all together, and then you will know what this palace looked like. And it all belonged to Urashima ; for was he not the son-in-law of the Sea God, the 5 husband of the lovely Dragon Princess? Well, they lived on happily for three years, wandering about every day among the beautiful trees with emerald leaves and ruby berries. But one morning Urashima said to his wife: Still I want to go "I am very happy here. home and see my father and mother and brothers and sisters. Just let me go for a short time, and I'll soon be back again." 10 "I wish you wouldn't go" said she; "I am 15 very much afraid that something dreadful will happen. However, if you will go, there is no help for it. Only you must take this box, and be careful not to open it. it. If never be able to come back here." very you open it, you will So Urashima promised to take great care of the box, and not to open it on any account; and then, getting into his boat, he rowed off, and at last landed on the shore of his own country. 20 20 |