He kept his hundredth year, and now he sees
The boon wherewith the gnome fulfilled his task;
When abbot he became, he broached a cask,
His thirsty crony from the hills to please.
And when with tear-dimmed eye he sank in thought
Of the dead brothers, "Had ye all" he spake
"Had with you such a gnome, his thirst to slake,
Ye all to-day your praise to God had brought."
"Of strokes and rheumatisms surely free
Your hearts and faces would be rose-bedight.
Drink, gnome! For moderation hath more might
Than holy water and all sorcery."
"Butterflies of All Colours" (1887).
4. THE INGLE NOOK.
Two gnarled old willows o'er the water droop,
And in it wet their boughs that trail and droop;
A mighty poplar guards the vale's retreat;
The cooling current flows around its feet;
A hazel hedge, whose tangle bars the way
Shelters a maid with glowing lips,—she may
Be six years old; her little feet are bare;
Upon a cow she turns a blue-eyed stare,
And in her sunburnt hands a grass-bunch lies,
The cow has fixed her big and trusting eyes
Upon the maid, and mutely thanks her thus
For tufts of bird-grass and ranunculus,
