And among the gold of her blithesome hair

Dim shone the golden crown.

“There came a bird this morning,

And sang ’neath my bower eaves,

Till I dreamed, as his music made me,

‘Ask thou for the Singing Leaves’”

Then the brow of the King swelled crimson

With a flush of angry scorn:

“Well have ye spoken, my two eldest,

And chosen as ye were born;