StoryTitle("caps", "The Fairies of the Caldon Low ") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(108, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And where have you been, my Mary,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And where have you been from me?\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"I have been to the top of the Caldon Low, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The midsummer night to see.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And what did you see, my Mary, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All up on the Caldon Low?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"I saw the glad sunshine come down, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And I saw the merry winds blow.\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And what did you hear, my Mary, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All up on the Caldon Hill?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"I heard the drops of water made, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And the ears of the green corn fill.\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Oh, tell me all, my Mary—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All, all that ever you know;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For you must have seen the fairies, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Last night, on the Caldon Low.\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Then take me on your knee, mother; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And listen, mother of mine;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A hundred fairies danced last night, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And the harpers they were nine; ", "") ?>
PagePoem(109, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And their harp strings rung so merrily ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To their dancing feet so small;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But oh, the words of their talking ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Were merrier far than all.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And what were the words, my Mary, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That then you heard them say?\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"I'll tell you all, my mother;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "But let me have my way.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Some of them played with the water, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And rolled it down the hill;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'And this,' they said, 'shall speedily turn ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The poor old miller's mill;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"'For there has been no water ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Ever since the first of May; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And a busy man will the miller be ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "At dawning of the day.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"'Oh, the miller, how he will laugh ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "When he sees the mill dam rise! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The jolly old miller, how he will laugh ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Till the tears fill both his eyes.' ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And some they seized the little winds ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That sounded over the hill;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And each put a horn into his mouth, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And blew both loud and shrill; ", "") ?>
PagePoem(110, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"'And there,' they said, 'the merry winds go ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Away from every horn;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And they shall clear the mildew dank ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "From the blind old widow's corn. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"'Oh, the poor, blind widow, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Though she has been blind so long, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She'll be blithe enough when the mildew's gone, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And the corn stands tall and strong.'", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And some they brought the brown lint seed, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And flung it down from the Low;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'And this,' they said, 'by the sunrise, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In the weaver's croft shall grow. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"'Oh, the poor, lame weaver,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "How he will laugh outright,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When he sees his dwindling flax field ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All full of flowers by night!'", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And then outspoke a brownie, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With a long beard on his chin", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'I have spun up all the tow,' said he, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "'And I want some more to spin. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"'I 've spun a piece of hempen cloth, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And I want to spin another;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A little sheet for Mary's bed, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And an apron for her mother.' ", "") ?>
PagePoem(111, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"With that I could not help but laugh, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And I laughed out loud and free; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And then on the top of the Caldon Low ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "There was no one left but me.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And all on the top of the Caldon Low ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The mists were cold and gray,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And nothing I saw but the mossy stones, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That round about me lay.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"But, coming down from the hilltop, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I heard afar below,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "How busy the jolly miller was, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And how the wheel did go.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And I peeped into the widow's field, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And, sure enough, were seen", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The yellow ears of the mildewed corn ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All standing stout and green.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And down by the weaver's croft I stole, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To see if the flax were sprung;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And I met the weaver at his gate, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With the good news on his tongue! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Now this is all I heard, mother, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And all that I did see;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So, pr'ythee, make my bed, mother, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "For I'm tired as I can be.\"", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("85", SmallCapsText("—Mary Howitt.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>