What did the child next ask? He wished to have the music put into words, so he asked the shepherd to "sing" it.
How did the child enjoy it? It was so lovely that he "wept with joy".
What did he ask the shepherd to do? To "write" it down.
Why? The child thought it was so lovely that he wanted other children to hear it, too.
Yes, that is the way that we come to have all these pretty poems in our books. If they were only played or sung, not so many children could have the opportunity of enjoying them.
What do you need when you write? We need pens, and paper, and ink.
The shepherd had not steel pens, and white paper, and black ink. He may have used the bark of trees to write on.
How did he get a pen? He "plucked a hollow reed", and he "made a rural pen".
What does that mean? He took a hollow stalk, such as an oat straw or a weed, and cut it in the form of a pen.
What is a "rural pen"? "Rural" means belonging to the country. The pen was not made as ours are. The shepherd wrote about sheep and other things belonging to country life.