A STORY OF THE OLDEN TIME
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Mabie, Hamilton Wright, Forbush, William Byron, and Hale, Edward Everett
I give to thee a better gift
Than houses or than land.
"Thou shalt do well whate'er thou dost,
As thou hast done this day;
Shalt have the will and power to please,
And shalt be loved alway."
Thus having said, she passed from sight,
And naught could Mabel see,
But the little bird, the sky-blue bird,
Upon the leafy tree.
"And now go," said the grandmother,
"And fetch in fagots dry;
All in the neighboring fir-wood
Beneath the trees they lie."
Away went kind, good Mabel,
Into the fir-wood near,
Where all the ground was dry and brown.
And the grass grew thin and sear.
She did not wander up and down,
Nor yet a live branch pull,
But steadily of the fallen boughs
She picked her apron full.
And when the wildwood brownies
Came sliding to her mind,
She drove them thence, as she was told,
With home thoughts sweet and kind.
But all that while the brownies
Within the fir-wood still,
They watched her how she picked the wood,
And strove to do no ill.
"And, oh, but she is small and neat,"
Said one; "'t were shame to spite
A creature so demure and meek,
A creature harmless quite!"
"Look only," said another,
"At her little gown of blue;
At her kerchief pinned about her head,
And at her little shoe!"
"Oh, but she is a comely child,"
Said a third; "and we will lay