Once Upon a Time, and Other Child-Verses

by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

XI.

Then the white rains wove with the long

light-beams,

Till a stalk, like a slim green flame,

Pierced the garden mould: a leaf unrolled;

And another beside it came.

XII.

Then the brothers tended their fairy plants

Till they shot up brave and tall,

And the leaves grew thick. "Now soon shall