XI.
Then spake the first of fairies: “O great King,
Thy life was ours—we spared it; ours was thine
And thou didst spare us, yet encompassing
Thy deed with obligation, line on line,
And promise holding promise,—me and mine
To do, and thou to do not. Now the hour
Hath come—as ne’er before—when billow and brine
Yield to a mortal every whit of power—
Save one—how suns soe’er may shine or clouds may lower.”