StoryTitle("caps", "The Wise Fairy ") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Once, in a rough, wild country, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "On the other side of the sea, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There lived a dear little fairy, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And her home was in a tree; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A dear little, queer little fairy,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And as rich as she could be. ", "") ?>
PagePoem(97, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To northward and to southward, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "She could overlook the land, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And that was why she had her house ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In a tree, you understand.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For she was the friend of the friendless, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And her heart was in her hand.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when she saw poor women ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Patiently, day by day, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Spinning, spinning, and spinning ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Their lonesome lives away,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She would hide in the flax of their distaffs ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A lump of gold, they say.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when she saw poor ditchers, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Knee-deep in some wet dike, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Digging, digging, and digging, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To their very graves, belike, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She would hide a shining lump of gold", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Where their spades would be sure to strike. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when she saw poor children", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Their goats from the pastures take, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Or saw them milking and milking, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Till their arms were ready to break, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "What a splashing in their milking-pails ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Her gifts of gold would make!", "") ?>
PagePoem(98, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sometimes in the night, a fisher ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Would hear her sweet low call, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And all at once a salmon of gold ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Right out of his net would fall; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But what I have to tell you", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Is the strangest thing of all. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "If any ditcher, or fisher,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Or child, or spinner old,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bought shoes for his feet, or bread to eat, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Or a coat to keep from the cold,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The gift of the good old fairy ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Was always trusty gold. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But if a ditcher, or fisher, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Or spinner, or child so gay,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bought jewels, or wine, or silks so fine, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Or staked his pleasure at play,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The fairy's gold in his very hold ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Would turn to a lump of clay. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So, by and by the people", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Got open their stupid eyes", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"We must learn to spend to some good end,\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "They said, \"if we are wise;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'T is not in the gold we waste or hold, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That a golden blessing lies.\"", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("85", SmallCapsText("—Alice Cary.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>