"Why, lad, the tress is mine!

"Look not amazed, but come with me,

And let me tell you where

And how, one morning fearfully,

I lost that lock of hair."

He led me past his cottage screen

Of flowers, far down the wood

Where, towering o'er the landscape green,

A centuried oak-tree stood.

"Here is the place," he said, "whereon