“Then tarry,
Oh, tarry, bee!
Fill up your sack;
And carry, oh, carry me
Home on your back.”[[1]]
[1]. Oliver Herford in St. Nicholas.
Now what child will read more than once these empty little verses (very prettily illustrated) when it is in his power to turn back to other sprites that sing in different strains,—to the fairy who wanders
“Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough briar,”
seeking pearl eardrops for the cowslips’ ears; or to that softer shape, the music of whose song, once heard, haunts us forever:—