“On every wave, in every flower
A shining fairy tale I see;
I gather them from stream and bower,
And tell them as they’re told to me.
From mossy banks and woodlands glancing,
They come like visions golden bright;
On every spray I watch them dancing,
And hear their whispers soft and light.
They come like sunbeams many-tinted,
But with what radiance, glowing, fair,
They’re on my memory imprinted
I never can in words declare.”
These “Fairy Tales” were published in 1883, entitled “From Carmen Sylva’s Kingdom,” and were given to the school children as a prize book in their Roumanian translation.
In the introduction the authoress addresses the people of her Roumanian kingdom in her character of mother of her country, and says to her children—
“Where crags the ancient forest crown,
Where mountain streams dance wild adown,
And countless blossoms spread,
And odours sweet are shed;
There lies the land—all glad and green—
Where I am Queen!
Where all that in old legends lies
Is read enshrined in tender eyes
Deep with the blue of truth,
And bright with loving youth;
There, soft as spring, that land is seen
Where I rule, Queen.
All the world over, in deep grove
Wherever ring bird-songs of love,
Where gathering mists veil all,
And splashes the waterfall,
’Mid those waved boughs my ways have been,
There I am Queen!
From shooting leaf and budding flower,
From each new beam of heavenly power,
In growing and beholding,
In being and enfolding,
The realm grows—(Children! when was such wealth seen?)
Where I am Queen!”