“‘Never! we well remember the Seer. We went where he dwells—we entered the cell—we begged the decree,—
| “‘Where, whenever, when, ’twere well Eve be wedded? Eld Seer, tell! |
“‘He rendered the decree; see here the sentence decreed!’ Then she presented Stephen the Seer’s decree. The verses were these:
| “‘Ere the green be red, Sweet Eve, be never wed; Ere be green the red cheek, Never wed thee, Eve meek.’ |
“The terms perplexed Stephen, yet he jeered them. He resented the senseless credence, ‘Seers never err.’ Then he repented, knelt, wheedled, wept. Eve sees Stephen kneel, she relents, yet frets when she remembers the Seer’s decree. Her dress redeems her. These were the events:
“Her well-kempt tresses fell: sedges, reeds beckoned them. The reeds fell, the edges met her cheeks; her cheeks bled. She presses the green sedge where her cheek bleeds. Red then bedewed the green reed, the green reed then speckled her red cheek. The red cheek seems green, the green reed seems red. These were the terms the Eld Seer decreed Stephen Vere.
HERE ENDETH THE LEGEND.”
The following curious lines run in quite an opposite way to the preceding, for each verse has been written so as to include every letter in the alphabet but the vowel e:
The Fate of Nassan.
| “Bold Nassan quits his caravan, A hazy mountain grot to scan; Climbs jaggy rocks to spy his way, Doth tax his sight, but far doth stray. Not work of man, nor sport of child, Finds Nassan in that mazy wild; Lax grows his joints, limbs toil in vain— Poor wight! why didst thou quit that plain Vainly for succour Nassan calls, Know, Zillah, that thy Nassan falls; But prowling wolf and fox may joy, To quarry on thy Arab boy.” |