"Canst go down to the lonesome glen,

To milk the mother-ewe; This is the work, my Mabel,

That thou wilt have to do.

"But listen now, my Mabel, This is midsummer day, When all the fairy people

From elf-land come away.

"And when thou'rt in the lonesome glen, Keep by the running burn,

And do not pluck the strawberry-flower, Nor break the lady-fern.

"But think not of the fairy folk,

Lest mischief should befall;

Think only of poor Amy,

And how thou lov'st us all.

"Yet keep good heart, my Mabel, If thou the fairies see,

And give them kindly answer

If they should speak to thee.

"And when into the fir-wood

Thou goest for fagots brown, Do not, like idle children,

Go wandering up and down.

176

MABEL ON MIDSUMMER DAY.

"But fill thy little apron,

My child, with earnest speed; And that thou break no living bough Within the wood take heed.

"For they are spiteful brownies
Who in the wood abide;
So be thou careful of this thing,
Lest evil should betide..

"But think not, little Mabel,
Whilst thou art in the wood,
Of dwarfish, wilful brownies,
But of the Father good.

"And when thou goest to the spring
To fetch the water thence,

Do not disturb the little stream,
Lest this should give offence.

"For the queen of all the fairies,
She loves that water bright;
I've seen her drinking there myself
On many a summer night.

"But she's a gracious lady,

And her thou needs't not fear;
Only disturb thou not the stream,
Nor spill the water clear."

"Now all this I will heed, mother,

Will no word disobey,

And wait upon the grandmother

This livelong summer day."

PART II.

Away tripped little Mabel,

With the wheaten cake so fine, With the new-made pat of butter, And the little flask of wine.

And long before the sun was hot,
And the summer mist had cleared,
Beside the good old grandmother
The willing child appeared.

And all her mother's message
She told with right good-will,
How that the father was away,
And the little child was ill.

And then she swept the hearth up clean,
And then the table spread;

And next she fed the dog and bird;

And then she made the bed.

178

MABEL ON MIDSUMMER DAY.

"And go now," said the grandmother,
"Ten paces down the dell,

And bring in water for the day,
Thou know'st the lady-well."

The first time that good Mabel went,
Nothing at all saw she,
Except a bird, a sky-blue bird,

That sat upon a tree.

The next time that good Mabel went,
There sat a lady bright

Beside the well,

All clothed in green and white.

A courtesy low made Mabel,
And then she stooped to fill
Her pitcher at the sparkling spring,
But no drop did she spill.

“Thou art a handy maiden,"

The fairy lady said;

"Thou hast not spilt a drop, nor yet

The fairy spring troubled!

"And for this thing which thou hast done,

Yet mayst not understand,

I give to thee a better gift

Than houses or than land.