"Ye are rich in house and flocks," said he,
"Though ye have no heart to take me in.
There was only a reed that was left for me,
And ye be not my kin."
"Pipe high—pipe low! Though skies be gray,
Who has a song, he needs must roam!
Even though ye call all day, all day,
'Brother, wilt thou come home?'"
Over the meadows and over the wold,
Up to the hills where the skies begin,
The youngest son of his father's house
Went forth to find his kin.
SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY
The stanzas in italic are a kind of refrain; they represent the music of the youngest son.
Why does the piper not go into the house when his brother's wife invites him? What does he mean when he says, "My brother's hearth is mine own"? Why does he say that the sheep are his? What does he mean when he says, "I will give ye my right," etc.? Why are his brothers not his kin? Who are the people that "rush across the plain"? Explain the fourteenth stanza. Why did the piper go forth to find his kin? Whom would he claim as his kindred? Why? Does the poem have a deeper meaning than that which first appears? What kind of person is represented by the youngest son? What are meant by his pipe and the music? Who are those who cast him out? Re-read the whole poem with the deeper meaning in mind.
COLLATERAL READINGS
| The Prophet | Josephine Preston Peabody |
| The Piper: Act I | " " " |
| The Shepherd of King Admetus | James Russell Lowell |
| The Shoes that Danced | Anna Hempstead Branch |
| The Heart of the Road and Other Poems | " " " |
| Rose of the Wind and Other Poems | " " " |