I was crashing on the earth —

Oh! I fell headlong to the moss, and I lay without motion,

As the woodman,

As the whistling woodman,

As the free and careless woodman,

Rent from me my emerald shield, and made me bare

As a bird just emerged from its shell.

And then he shaped me into a thick stick,

A thick white stick, with his wood-knife,

And carried me to the village store,