Beyond the seas, or ’neath the northern star,

And long had pondered where were best to dwell

When he should deign a human shape to wear.

“Whether to be of them that buy and sell,

With fish-scale eyes, and yellow corn-silk hair,

Or with the stone-men chase the giant game.

But wander where you may, no land can claim

A sky so fair as ours; the sun each day

Circles the earth with glaring eye, but sees

No lakes or plains so beautiful as these;