Then come down. She will not come, though you call all day. Come away, come away. Children dear, was it yesterday We heard the sweet bells over the bay? In the caverns where we lay, Through the surf and through the swell, Where the spent lights quiver and gleam; When did music come this way? 30 35 40 45 Children dear, was it yesterday? Children dear, was it yesterday (Call yet once) that she went away? Once she sate with you and me, 50 On a red gold throne in the heart of the sea, She combed its bright hair, and she tended it well, 54 She sighed, she looked up through the clear green sea; She said I must go, for my kinsfolk pray In the little gray church on the shore to-day. 60 She smiled, she went up through the surf in the bay. Children dear, was it yesterday? Children dear, were we long alone? 'The sea grows stormy, the little ones moan. Long prayers,' I said, 'in the world they say. Come,' I said, and we rose through the surf in the bay. We went up the beach, by the sandy down 65 Where the sea-stocks bloom, to the white-walled town. Through the narrow paved streets, where all was still, 70 To the little gray church on the windy hill. From the church came a murmur of folk at their prayers, But we stood without in the cold blowing airs. 76 We climbed on the graves, on the stones worn with rains, For her eyes were sealed to the holy book. Come away, come down, call no more. Down, down, down. Down to the depths of the sea. She sits at her wheel in the humming town, Singing most joyfully. Hark, what she sings: O joy, O joy, For the humming street, and the child with its toy, For the priest, and the bell, and the holy well, For the wheel where I spun, And the blessèd light of the sun.' And so she sings her fill, Singing most joyfully, 38 85 90 95 Till the shuttle falls from her hand, And the whizzing wheel stands still. She steals to the window, and looks at the sand; From a sorrow-clouded eye, A long, long sigh, For the cold strange eyes of a little mermaiden, And the gleam of her golden hair. Come away, away, children, She will start from her slumber We shall see, while above us 100 105 110 115 Hamelin Town's in Brunswick, By famous Hanover city; The river Weser, deep and wide, Washes its wall on the southern side; A pleasanter spot you never spied; But, when begins my ditty, Almost five hundred years ago, To see the townsfolk suffer so Rats! They fought the dogs, and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats, And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles, And even spoiled the women's chats, At last the people in a body To the Town Hall came flocking: "Tis clear,' cried they, 'our Mayor's a noddy; 25 Rouse up, sirs! Give your brains a racking 30 Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!' At this the Mayor and Corporation Quaked with a mighty consternation. An hour they sate in council, At length the Mayor broke silence: 35 'For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell; I wish I were a mile hence! It's easy to bid one rack one's brainI'm sure my poor head aches again I've scratched it so, and all in vain, Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap!' 40 Just as he said this, what should hap At the chamber door but a gentle tap? 'Bless us!' cried the Mayor, what's that?' 45 For a plate of turtle green and glutinous), Anything like the sound of a rat Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!' 'Come in!'-the Mayor cried, looking bigger: 55 And in did come the strangest figure. |