And all that was weak, and all that was strong, In Merry Seem'd to think wrong's self in him could not be wrong, Such love, though with bosom about to be gored, So half that night, as he stopped in the town, LEIGH HUNT. Mood Story Poems: Romance and Reality When the King in Lowell's poem asked his three daughters what fairings he should bring them on his homecoming, the two elder ones demanded jewels and rings, silks that would stand alone, and golden combs for the hair. But the youngest Princess, she that was whiter than thistledown-somehow it is always the youngest princess who is beloved of the poets and romancers— asked as her fairing the Singing Leaves. The King could not buy them in Vanity Fair, but in the deep heart of the greenwood he found Walter, the little footpage, who drew a thin packet from his bosom and said, "Now give you this to the Princess Anne, The Singing Leaves are therein." She took them when the King met her at the castle gate, the lovely little Princess with the golden crown shining dim in the blithesome gold of her hair; took them with a smile that 66 The poems we give you here, young princes and princesses of the twentieth century, are all Singing Leaves of one sort or another. There are leaves that sing tragedies, like those in Earl Haldan's Daughter,' "The High Tide," or " The Sands o' Dee"; there are leaves that sing fantasies, like "The Forsaken Merman, ""The Pied Piper," or the enchanting "Lady of Shalott," weaving her magic web of colors gay. 66 There are Singing Leaves that grew on the Tree of Reality; leaves that tell stories like Bret Harte's “ Greyport Legend" or Browning's " Hervé Riel "; while in "Seven Times Two," the "Sam: Nest,' Lord Ullin,' "Young Lochinvar," and "ek o' Hazledean " you have pure romances, sweet and yuthful, gay and daring. 99.66 XIII STORY POEMS: ROMANCE AND REALITY 66 The Singing Leaves I WHAT fairings will ye that I bring?” "For I to Vanity Fair am boun', Now say what shall they be? Then up and spake the eldest daughter, 66 Oh, bring me pearls and diamonds great, Thereafter spake the second daughter, "For me bring silks that will stand alone, Then came the turn of the least daughter, And among the gold of her blithesome hair |