And now they throng the moonlight glade, Above-below-on every side, Their little minim forms arrayed In the tricksy pomp of fairy pride ! V. They come not now to print the lea, He has loved an earthly maid, And left for her his woodland shade; He has lain upon her lip of dew, And sunned him in her eye of blue, Played in the ringlets of her hair, For this the shadowy tribes of air To the elfin court must haste away :And now they stand expectant there, To hear the doom of the Culprit Fay. THE CULPRIT FAY. 23 VI. The throne was reared upon the grass Of spice-wood and of sassafras ; The monarch sat on his judgment-seat, On his brow the crown imperial shone, The prisoner Fay was at his feet, And his peers were ranged around the throne. He waved his sceptre in the air, He looked around and calmly spoke; His brow was grave and his eye severe, But his voice in a softened accent broke : VII. "Fairy! Fairy! list and mark, Thou hast broke thine elfin chain, Thy flame-wood lamp is quenched and dark, In the glance of a mortal maiden's eye; Thou hast scorned our dread decree, But well I know her sinless mind Is pure as the angel forms above, Gentle and meek, and chaste and kind. Such as a spirit well might love; Bitter had been thy punishment. Tied to the hornet's shardy wings; Of the worm, and the bug, and the murdered fly: Had a stain been found on the earthly fair. Now list, and mark our mild decree Fairy, this your doom must be: VIII. "Thou shalt seek the beach of sand Where the water bounds the elfin land, Thou shalt watch the oozy brine Till the sturgeon leaps in the bright moonshine, Then dart the glistening arch below, And catch a drop from his silver bow, THE CULPRIT FAY. The water-sprites will wield their arms, If thy heart be pure and thy spirit right, IX. "If the spray-bead gem be won, The stain of thy wing is washed away, But another errand must be done Ere thy crime be lost for aye; Thy flame-wood lamp is quenched and dark, Mount thy steed and spur him high To the heaven's blue canopy; And when thou seest a shooting star, The last faint spark of its burning train Shall light the elfin lamp again. Hence! to the water-side, away!" 25 X. The goblin marked his monarch well; And turned him round in act to go. His soiled wing has lost its power, And he winds adown the mountain high, For many a sore and weary hour. Through dreary beds of tangled fern, Through groves of nightshade dark and dern, Over the grass and through the brake, Where toils the ant and sleeps the snake; Now o'er the violet's azure flush He skips along in lightsome mood; And now he thrids the bramble-bush, Till its points are died in fairy blood. He has leaped the bog, he has pierced the briar, He has swum the brook, and waded the mire, Till his spirits sank, and his limbs grew weak, And the red waxed fainter in his cheek. He had fallen to the ground outright, For rugged and dim was his onward track, But there came a spotted toad in sight, And he laughed as he jumped upon her back; He bridled her mouth with a silkweed twist, He lashed her sides with an osier thong; |