The Story and Song of Black Roderick

by Dora Sigerson Shorter

"And wherefore," said the little brother, "shouldst thou laugh at fool
Roderick?"

"Because," quoth the Black Earl, "he hath found a strange jewel when he hath lost it."

"Thy words I do not understand," saith the little brother. "What was the strange jewel that he hath and yet hath not?"

"Love," quoth the Black Earl.

"That neither do I understand," saith the little brother, "but now thou must listen to my story."

And of what he saith shall I sing, for his voice was sweeter than prose:

"Oh, brother, brother, come up to the lake waters gray,
Come up to the shore where I play;
For, oh! I saw on the bank asleep
A fair white nymph, and the slow waves creep,
To bear her away, away.

"Oh, brother, brother, I watched her through the day,
Saw her hair grow jewelled with spray.
Once her cheek was brushed by a robin's wing,
And a finch flew down on her hand to sing,
And was not afraid to stay.

"Oh, brother, brother, will she soon awaken be?
I would that she laugh with me.
She sleeps, and the world so full of sound;
She's deaf, like the deaths that are under the ground,
That I laugh and laugh to see."

Now shall I tell how the Black Earl heeded not the story of the little brother, nor the tragedy that lay therein, for his ear was busy with another sound.