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A Midsummer Legend
“AND where have you been, my Mary, | |
| And where have you been from me?” | |
| “I ’ve been to the top of the Caldon Low, | |
| The midsummer-night to see.” | |
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| “And what did you see, my Mary, | 5 |
| All up on the Caldon Low?” | |
| “I saw the glad sunshine come down, | |
| And I saw the merry winds blow.” | |
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| “And what did you hear, my Mary, | |
| All up on the Caldon hill?” | 10 |
| “I heard the drops of the water made, | |
| And the ears of the green corn fill.” | |
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| “Oh! tell me all, my Mary— | |
| All, all that ever you know; | |
| For you must have seen the fairies, | 15 |
| Last night on the Caldon Low.” | |
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| “Then take me on your knee, mother; | |
| And listen, mother of mine: | |
| A hundred fairies danced last night, | |
| And the harpers they were nine; | 20 |
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| “And their harp-strings rung so merrily | |
| To their dancing feet so small; | |
| But oh! the words of their talking | |
| Were merrier far than all.” | |
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| “And what were the words, my Mary, | 25 |
| That then you heard them say?” | |
| “I ’ll tell you all, my mother; | |
| But let me have my way. | |
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| “Some of them played with the water, | |
| And rolled it down the hill; | 30 |
| ‘And this,’ they said, ‘shall speedily turn | |
| The poor old miller’s mill; | |
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| “‘For there has been no water | |
| Ever since the first of May; | |
| And a busy man will the miller be | 35 |
| At dawning of the day. | |
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| “‘Oh! the miller, how he will laugh | |
| When he sees the mill-dam rise! | |
| The jolly old miller, how he will laugh | |
| Till the tears fill both his eyes!’ | 40 |
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| “And some they seized the little winds | |
| That sounded over the hill; | |
| And each put a horn unto his mouth, | |
| And blew both loud and shrill; | |
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| “‘And there,’ they said, ‘the merry winds go | 45 |
| Away from every horn; | |
| And they shall clear the mildew dank | |
| From the blind old widow’s corn. | |
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| “‘Oh! the poor, blind widow, | |
| Though she has been blind so long, | 50 |
| She ’ll be blithe enough when the mildew ’s gone, | |
| And the corn stands tall and strong.’ | |
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| “And some they brought the brown lint-seed, | |
| And flung it down from the Low; | |
| ‘And this,’ they said, ‘by the sunrise, | 55 |
| In the weaver’s croft shall grow. | |
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| “‘Oh! the poor, lame weaver, | |
| How will he laugh outright | |
| When he sees his dwindling flax-field | |
| All full of flowers by night!’ | 60 |
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| “And then outspoke a brownie, | |
| With a long beard on his chin; | |
| ‘I have spun up all the tow,’ said he, | |
| ‘And I want some more to spin. | |
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| “‘I ’ve spun a piece of hempen cloth, | 65 |
| And I want to spin another; | |
| A little sheet for Mary’s bed, | |
| And an apron for her mother.’ | |
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| “With that I could not help but laugh, | |
| And I laughed out loud and free; | 70 |
| And then on the top of the Caldon Low | |
| There was no one left but me. | |
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| “And on the top of the Caldon Low | |
| The mists were cold and gray, | |
| And nothing I saw but the mossy stones | 75 |
| That round about me lay. | |
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| “But, coming down from the hill-top, | |
| I heard afar below, | |
| How busy the jolly miller was, | |
| And how the wheel did go. | 80 |
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| “And I peeped into the widow’s field, | |
| And, sure enough, were seen | |
| The yellow ears of the mildewed corn, | |
| All standing stout and green. | |
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| “And down by the weaver’s croft I stole, | 85 |
| To see if the flax were sprung; | |
| And I met the weaver at his gate, | |
| With the good news on his tongue. | |
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| “Now this is all I heard, mother, | |
| And all that I did see; | 90 |
| So, pr’ythee, make my bed, mother, | |
| For I ’m tired as I can be.” | |
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