:s;sp>^s^^^;S!S?ss «SiiS^«S\'^SSS^SSS5SSSSS8SSSStSkil!S.^^ f;\\uVN Ami im m LA MARE with a niustrations a by DOROTHY F. LATHROP ns. Class _EB_aiiai. Bool e .E3Q ^ C0EXRIGHT DEPOSm DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY A BooK of Fairy Poems by W\LTER DE LA MARE ■with H niustrations a by DOROTHY F. LATHROP NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY >^^;'.^,' COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY PRINTED IN U. S. A. APR 1 8 1922 'CI.A661345 CONTENTS PAGE Fairies The Fairies Dancing 3 Dream-Song 4 A-Tishoo V The Double 8 The Unfinished Dream 11 The Horn 14 The Three Beggars 17 The Stranger 20 The Ruin 23 The Fairy in Winter 24 Sleepyhead 27 Sam's Three Wishes: or Life's Little Whirligig 29 Peak and Puke 39 The Changeling 41 Lob Lie by the Fire 45 Bluebells 48 The Honey Robbers 51 Berries 55 Happy, Happy It Is to Be 58 The Midden's Song 63 All But Blind 64 The Mocking Fairy 69 Down-Adown-Derry 70 V vi CONTENTS PAGE Witches and Witchcraft The Hare 76 I Saw Three Witches 79 The Isle of Lone 81 Sunk Lyonesse 86 Sleeping Beauty 89 Bewitched 91 The Enchanted Hill 93 The Ride-By-Nights 97 Off the Ground 99 Sadly, O, Sadly 105 The Dwarf 109 Longlegs 112 The Mermaids 116 The Little Creature 119 Sam 121 The Witch 125 The Journey . 129 As Lucy Went A- Walking 134 The World of Dream Beware! 140 Some One 143 Music 147 Haunted 149 They Told Me 151 The Sunken Garden 153 Snow 155 The World of Dream 159 CONTENTS vii PAGE Queen Djenira 162 Nightfall 165 Cumberland 167 The Little Green Orchard 171 The Truants 173 The Little Salamander 177 Voices 178 Sorcery 181 Melmillo 187 The Quiet Enemy 188 Mistletoe 191 Not I 195 FAIRIES DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY THE FAIRIES DANCING I HEARD along the early hills, Ere yet the lark was risen up, Ere yet the dawn with firelight fills The night-dew of the bramble-cup, — I heard the fairies in a ring Sing as they tripped a lilting round Soft as the moon on wavering wing. The starlight shook as if with sound, As if with echoing, and the stars Prankt their bright eyes with trembling gleams While red with war the gusty Mars Rained upon earth his ruddy beams. He shone alone, low down the West, While I, behind a hawthorn-bush, Watched on the fairies flaxen-tressed The fires of the morning flush. Till, as a mist, their beauty died. Their singing shrill and fainter grew; And daylight tremulous and wide Flooded the moorland through and through; Till Urdon's copper weathercock Was reared in golden flame afar, And dim from moonlit dreams awoke The towers and groves of Arroar. DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY DREAM-SONG Sunlight, moonlight, Twilight, starlight — Gloaming at the close of day, And an owl calling. Cool dews falling In a wood of oak and may. Lantern-light, taper-light, Torchlight, no-light: Darkness at the shut of day, And lions roaring, Their wrath pouring In wild waste places far away. Elf-light, bat-light. Touchwood-light and toad-light. And the sea a shimmering gloom of grey, And a small face smiling In a dream's beguiling In a world of wonders far away. A-TISHOO "Sneeze, Pretty, sneeze. Dainty, Else the Elves will have you sure, Sneeze, Light-of -Seven- Bright-Candles, See they're tippeting at the door; Their wee feet in measure falling, All their little voices calling, Calling, calling, calling, calling — ^^ Sneeze, or never come no morel" "A-tishoo!" DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY THE DOUBLE I CURTSEYED to the dovecote. I curtseyed to the well. I twirled me round and round about, The morning sweets to smell. When out I came from spinning so, Lo, betwixt green and blue Was the ghost of me — a Fairy Child — A-dancing — dancing, too. Nought was of her wearing That is the earth's array. Her thistledown feet beat airy fleet Yet set no blade astray. The gossamer shining dews of June ■ Showed grey against the green; Yet never so much as a bird-claw print Of footfall to be seen. Fading in the mounting sun That image soon did pine. Fainter than moonlight thinned the locks That shone as clear as mine. Vanished! Vanished! O, sad it is To spin and spin — in vain; And never to see the ghost of me A-dancing there again. 8 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY THE UNFINISHED DREAM Rare-sweet the air in that unimagined country My spirit had wandered far From its weary body close-enwrapt in slumber Where its home and earth-friends are; 11 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY A milk-like air — and of light all abundance; And there a river clear Painting the scene like a picture on its bosom, Green foliage drifting near. No sign of life I saw, as I pressed onward. Fish, nor beast, nor bird, Till I came to a hill clothed in flowers to its summit, Then shrill small voices I heard. And I saw from concealment a company of elf-folk With faces strangely fair, Talking their unearthly scattered talk together, A bind of green-grasses in their hair, Marvellously gentle, feater far than children, In gesture, mien and speech, Hastening onward in translucent shafts of sunshine, And gossiping each with each. Straw-light their locks, on neck and shoulder falling. Faint of almond the silks they wore, Spun not of worm, but as if inwoven of moonbeams And foam on rock-bound shore; Like lank-legged grasshoppers in June- tide meadows, Amalillios of the day. Hungrily gazed upon by me — a stranger, In unknown regions astray. 12 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY Yet, happy beyond words, I marked their sunlit faces, Stealing soft enchantment from their eyes, Tears in my own confusing their small image, Harkening their bird-like cries. They passed me, unseeing, a waft of flocking linnets; Sadly I fared on my way; And came in my dream to a dreamlike habitation, Close-shut, festooned and grey. Pausing, I gazed at the porch dust-still, vine-wreathed, Worn the stone steps thereto. Mute hung its bell, whence a stony head looked downward. Grey 'gainst the sky's pale-blue — Strange to me: strange. . . . 13 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY THE HORN Hark! is that a horn I hear, In cloudland winding sweet — And bell-like clash of bridle-rein, And silver-shod light feet? Is it the elfin laughter Of fairies riding faint and high, Beneath the branches of the moon. Straying through the starry sky? Is it in the globed dew Such sweet melodies may fall? Wood and valley — all are still. Hushed the shepherd's call. 14 THE THREE BEGGARS 'TwAS autumn daybreak gold and wild, While past St. Ann's grey tower they shuffled, Three beggars spied a fairy-child In crimson mantle muffled. 17 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY The daybreak lighted up her face All pink, and sharp, and emerald-eyed; She looked on them a little space. And shrill as hautboy cried: — "O three tall footsore men of rags Which walking this gold morn I see. What will ye give me from your bags For fairy kisses three?" The first, that was a reddish man. Out of his bundle takes a crust: "La, by the tombstones of St. Ann, There's fee, if fee ye must!" The second, chat was a chestnut man, Out of his bundle draws a bone: "Lo, by the belfry of St. Ann, And all my breakfast gone!" The third, that was a yellow man. Out of his bundle picks a groat, "La, by the Angel of St. Ann, And I must go without." That changeling, lean and icy-lipped, Touched crust, and bone, and groat, and lo! Beneath her finger taper-tipped The magic all ran through. 18 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY Instead of crust a peacock pie, Instead of bone sweet venison, Instead of groat a white lily With seven blooms thereon. And each fair cup was deep with wine: Such was the changeling's charity, The sweet feast was enough for nine, But not too much for three. O toothsome meat in jelly froze I O tender haunch of elfin stag! O rich the odour that arose! O plump with scraps each bag! There, in the daybreak gold and wild, Each merry-hearted beggar man Drank deep unto the fairy child. And blessed the good St. Ann. 19 THE STRANGER In the nook of a wood where a pool freshed with dew Glassed,daybreak till evening, blueskyglimpsingthrough Then a star; or a slip of May-moon silver- white, Thridding softly aloof the quiet of night, Was a thicket of flowers. Willow herb, mint, pale speedwell and rattle Water hemlock and sundew — to the wind's tittle-tattle They nodded, dreamed, swayed in jocund delight. In beauty and sweetness arrayed, still and bright. By turn scampered rabbit; trotted fox; bee and bird Paused droning, sang shrill, and the fair water stirred. Plashed green frog, or some brisk little flickering fish — Gudgeon, stickleback, minnow — set the ripples a-swish. A lone pool, a pool grass-fringed, crystal-clear: Deep, placid, and cool in the sweet of the year; Edge-parched when the sun to the Dog Days drew near; And with winter's bleak rime hardasglass, robed in snow, The whole wild-wood sleeping, and nothing a-blow But the wind from the North — bringing snow. That is all. Save that one long, sweet, June night-tide straying. The harsh hemlock's pale umbelliferous bloom Tenting nook, dense with fragrance and secret with gloom. In a beaming of moon-colored light faintly raying. On buds orbed with dew phosphorescently playing. Came a Stranger — still-footed, feat-fingered, clear face Unhumanly lovely: . . . and supped in that place. 20 — ^X.m^^::— JBl f^m ^Hi'- - ' . . . ■ — I; j^kTHwi. \ ■ ■ ■ '■'■■ ■ -■ j^H^j^Hw « J^^ ^^^i^^^lE ^^■K^HHI .• • •■ ■: -■ - ^^^^B^BIil^ llll THE RUIN When the last colours of the day Have from their burning ebbed away, About that ruin, cold and lone, The cricket shrills from stone to stone; And scattering o'er its darkened green, Bands of the fairies may be seen, Chattering like grasshoppers, their feet Dancing a thistledown dance round it: While the great gold of the mild moon Tinges their tiny acorn shoon. 22> DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY THE FAIRY IN WINTER There was a Fairy — flake of winter — Who, when the snow came, whispering. Silence, Sister crystal to crystal sighing, Making of meadow argent palace, Night a star-sown solitude. Cried 'neath her frozen eaves, "I burn here!" Wings diaphanous, beating bee-like, Wand within fingers, locks enspangled. Icicle foot, lip sharp as scarlet. She lifted her eyes in her pitch-black hollow — Green as stalks of weeds in water — Breathed: stirred. Rilled from her heart the ichor, coursing, Flamed and awoke her slumbering magic. Softlier than moth's her pinions trembled; Out into blackness, light-like, she flittered. Leaving her hollow cold, forsaken. In air, o'er crystal, rang twangling night-wind. Bare, rimed pine-woods murmured lament. 24 SETT- r)PU2 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY "Why, Sam," says she, "the bird be turning, For my nose tells I that the skin's a-burningl" And down at the oven the ghost of her sat And basted the goose with the boiling fat. "Oho," cries the Fairy, sweet and small, "Another wish gone will leave nothing at all." And Sam sighs, "Bless 'ee, Ma'am, keep the other, There's nowt that I want now I have my Mother." But the Fairy laughs softly, and says, says she, "There's one wish left, Sam, I promised 'ee three. Hasten your wits, the hour creeps on, There's calling afield and I'm soon to be gone. Soon as haps midnight the cocks will crow And me to the gathering and feasting must go." Sam gazed at his Mother — withered and wan. The rose in her cheek, her bright hair, gone. And her poor old back bent double with years — And he scarce could speak for the salt, salt tears. "Well, well," he says, "I'm unspeakable glad: But — it bain't quite the same as when I was a lad. There's joy and there's joy, Ma'am, but to tell 'ee the truth There's none can compare with the joy of one's youth. And if it was possible, how could I choose But be back in boy's breeches to eat the goose; And all the old things — and my Mother the most, To shine again real as my own gatepost. What wouldn't I give, too, to see again wag 2>2> DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY The dumpity tail of my old dog, Shag! Your kindness, Ma'am, but all wishing was vain Unless us can both be young again." A shrill, faint laughter from nowhere came . . . Empty the dark in the candle-flame. . . . And there stood our Sam, about four foot high, Snub nose, shock hair, and round blue eye. Breeches and braces and coat of him too. Shirt on his back, and each clodhopping shoe Had shrunk to a nicety — button and hem To fit the small Sammie tucked up into them. There was his Mother, too; smooth, dear cheek, Lips as smooth as a blackbird's beak, Pretty arched eyebrows, the daintiest nose — While the smoke of the baking deliciously rose. "Come, Sammie," she cries, "your old Mammikin's joy, Climb up on your stool, supper's ready, my boy. Bring in the candle, and shut out the night; There's goose, baked taties and cabbage to bite. Why, bless the wee lamb, he's all shiver and shake. And you'd think from the look of him scarcely awake! If 'ee glour wi' those eyes, Sam, so dark and round, The elves will away with 'ee, I'll be bound!" So Sam and his Mother by wishes three Were made just as happy as happy can be. And there — with a bumpity tail to wag — 34 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY Sat laughing, with tongue out, their old dog. Shag. To clatter of patter, bones, giblets and juice. Between them they ate up the whole of the goose. But time is a river for ever in flow. The weeks went by as the weeks must go. Soon fifty-two to a year did grow. The long years passed, one after another. Making older and older our Sam and his Mother; And, alas and alack, with nine of them gone. Poor Shag lay asleep again under a stone. And a sorrowful dread would sometimes creep Into Sam's dreams, as he lay asleep. That his Mother was lost, and away he'd fare, Calling her, calling her, everywhere. In dark, in rain, by roads unknown, . Under echoing hills, and alone, alone. What bliss in the morning to wake and see The sun shining green in the linden tree. And out of that dream's dark shadowiness To slip in on his Mother and give her a kiss, And go whistling off in the dew to hear The thrushes all mocking him, sweet and clear. Still, moon after moon from heaven above Shone on Mother and son, and made light of love. Her roses faded, her pretty brown hair Had sorrowful grey in it everywhere. And at last she died, and was laid to rest, 35 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY Her tired hands crossed on her shrunken breast. And Sam, now lonely, lived on and on Till most of his workaday life seemed gone. Yet spring came again with its green and blue, And presently summer's wild roses too, Pinks, Sweet William, and sops-in-wine. Blackberry, lavender, eglantine. And when these had blossomed and gone their way, Twas apples, and daisies and Michaelmas Day — Yes, spider-webs, dew, and haws in the may. And seraphs singing in Michaelmas Day. Sam worked all morning and couldnt get rest For a kind of a feeling of grief in his breast. And yet, not grief, but something more Like the thought that what happens has happened before. He fed the chickens, he fed the sow. On a three-legged stool sate down to the cow. With a pail 'twixt his legs in the green in the meadow. Under the elm trees' lengthening shadow; And woke at last with a smile and a sigh To find he had milked his poor Jingo dry. As dusk set in, even the birds did seem To be calling and calling from out of a dream. He chopped up kindling, shut up his shed. In a bucket of well-water soused his head 36 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY To freshen his eyes up a little and make The drowsy old wits of him wider awake. As neat as a womanless creature is able He swept up his hearthstone and laid the table. And then o'er his platter and mug, if you please, Sate gloomily gooming at loaf and cheese — Gooming and gooming as if the mere sight Of his victuals could satisfy appetite! And the longer and longer he looked at them The slimmer slimmed upward his candle flame, Blue in the air. And when squeaked a mouse 'Twas loud as a trump in the hush of the house. Then, sudden, a soft little wind puffed by, 'Twixt the thick-thatched roof and the star-sown sky; And died. And then That deep, dead, wonderful silence again. Then — soft as a rattle a-counting her seeds In the midst of a tangle of withered-up weeds — Came a faint, faint knocking, a rustle like silk, And a breath at the keyhole as soft as milk — Still as the flit of a moth. ; And then . . . That infinitesimal knocking again. Sam lifted his chin from his fists. He listened. His wandering eyes in the candle glistened. Then slowly, slowly, rolled round by degrees — And there sat a mouse on the top of his cheese. He stared at this Midget, and it at him, 37 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY Over the edge of his mug's round rim, And — as if it were Christian — he says, " Did 'ee hear A faint little tap-tap-tap-tapping, my dear? You was at supper and me in a maze Tis dark for a caller in these lone days. There's nowt in the larder. We're both of us old. And all of my loved ones sleep under the mould, And yet — and yet — as I've told 'ee before . . ." But if Sam's story you'd read to the end, Turn back to page 1, and press onward, dear friend; Yes, if you would stave the last note of this song. Turn back to page primus, and warble along! For all sober records of life {come to write 'em), Are bound to continue — well — ad infinitum! 38 PEAK AND PUKE From his cradle in the glamourie They have stolen my wee brother, Roused a changeling in his swaddlings For to fret mine own poor mother. Pules it in the candle light Wi' a cheek so lean and white, Chinkling up its eyne so wee, Wailing shrill at her an' me. 39 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY It we'll neither rock nor tend Till the Silent Silent send, Lapping in their waesome arms Him they stole with spells and charms, Till they take this changeling creature Back to its own fairy nature — Cry! Cry! as long as may be. Ye shall ne'er be woman's baby! 40 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY THE CHANGELING "Ahoy, and ahoy!" 'Twixt mocking and merry — "Ahoy and ahoy, there. Young man of the ferry!" She stood on the steps In the watery gloom — That Changeling — "Ahoy, there!" She called him to come. He came on the green wave. He came on the grey, Where stooped that sweet lady That still summer's day. He fell in a dream Of her beautiful face. As she sat on the thwart And smiled in her place. No echo his oar woke. Float silent did they. Past low-grazing cattle In the sweet of the hay. And still in a dream At her beauty sat he, Drifting stern foremost Down — down to the sea. 41 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY Come you, then: call, When the twilight apace Brings shadow to brood On the loveliest face; You shall hear o'er the water Ring faint in the grey — "Ahoy, and ahoy, there!" And tremble away; "Ahoy, and ahoy! ..." And tremble away. 42 LOB LIE BY THE FIRE He squats by the fire On his three-legged stool, When all in the house With slumber are full. 45 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY And he warms his great hands, Hanging loose from each knee. And he whistles as soft As the night wind at sea. For his work now is done; All the water is sweet; He has turned each brown loaf, And breathed magic on it. The milk in the pan, And the bacon on beam He has "spelled" with his thumb, And bewitched has the dream. Not a mouse, not a moth, Not a spider but sat, And quaked as it wondered What next he'd be at. But his heart, O, his heart — It belies his great nose; And at gleam of his eye Not a soul would suppose He had stooped with great thumbs. And big thatched head, To tuck his small mistress More snugly in bed. 46 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY Who would think, now, a throat So lank and so thin Might make birds seem to warble In the dream she is in! Now hunched by the fire, While the embers burn low. He nods until daybreak, And at daybreak he'll go. Soon the first cock will 'light From his perch and point high His beak at the Ploughboy Grown pale in the sky; And crow will he shrill; Then, meek as a mouse. Lob will rouse up and shuffle Straight out of the house. His supper for breakfast; For wages his work; And to warm his great hands . Just an hour in the mirk. 47 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY BLUEBELLS Where the bluebells and the wind are, Fairies in a ring I spied, And I heard a little linnet Singing near beside. Where the primrose and the dew are — Soon were sped the fairies all: Only now the green turf freshens, And the linnets call. 48 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY THE HONEY ROBBERS There were two Fairies, Gimmul and Mel, Loved Earth Man's honey passing well; Oft at the hives of his tame bees They would their sugary thirst appease. When even began to darken to night, They would hie along in the fading light, With elf-locked hair and scarlet lips, 51 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY And small stone knives to slit the skeps, So softly not a bee inside Should hear the woven straw divide. And then with sly and greedy thumbs Would rifle the sweet honeycombs. And drowsily drone to drone would say, "A cold, cold wind blows in this way"; And the great Queen would turn her head From face to face, astonished, And, though her maids with comb and brush Would comb and soothe and whisper, "Hush I" About the hive would shrilly go A keening — keening, to and fro; At which those robbers 'neath the trees Would taunt and mock the honey-bees. And through their sticky teeth would buzz Just as an angry hornet does. And when this Gimmul and this Mel Had munched and sucked and swilled their fill, Or ever Man's first cock could crow Back to their Faerie Mounds they'd go. Edging across the twilight air. Thieves of a guise remotely fair. 52 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY BERRIES There was an old woman Went blackberry picking Along the hedges From Weep to Wicking. Half a pottle — No more she had got, When out steps a Fairy From her green grot ; Andsays, "Well, Jill, Would 'ee pick 'ee mo?" And Jill, she curtseys. And looks just so. "Be off," says the Fairy, "As quick as you can, Over the meadows To the little green lane. That dips to the hayfields Of Farmer Grimes: I've berried those hedges A score of times; Bushel on bushel I'll promise 'ee, Jill, This side of supper If 'ee pick with a will." 55 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY She glints very bright, And speaks her fair; Then lo, and behold! She has faded in air. Be sure old Goodie She trots betimes Over the meadows To Farmer Grimes. And never was queen With jewel Iry rich As those same hedges From twig to ditch; Like Dutchmen's coffers, Fruit, thorn, and flower — They shone like William And Mary's bower. And be sure Old Goodie Went back to Weep, So tired with her basket She scarce could creep. When she comes in the dusk To her cottage door. There's Towser wagging As never before, To see his Missus So glad to be Come from her fruit-picking Back to he. 56 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY As soon as next morning Dawn was grey, The pot on the hob Was simmering away; And all in a stew And a hugger-mugger Towser and Jill A-boiling of sugar, And the dark clear fruit That from Faerie came, For syrup and jelly And blackberry jam. Twelve jolly gallipots Jill put by; And one little teeny one, One inch high; And that she's hidden A good thumb deep, Half way over From Wicking to Weep. 57 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY HAPPY, HAPPY IT IS TO BE "Happy, happy it is to be Where the greenwood hangs o'er the dark blue sea; To roam in the moonbeams clear and still And dance with the elves Over dale and hill; To taste their cups, and with them roam The field for dewdrops and honeycomb. Climb then, and come, as quick as you can, And dwell with the fairies, Elizabeth Ann! "Never, never, comes tear or sorrow. In the mansions old where the fairies dwell; But only the harping of their sweet harp-strings, And the lonesome stroke of a distant bell. Where upon hills of thyme and heather. The shepherd sits with his wandering sheep; And the curlew wails, and the skylark hovers Over the sand where the conies creep; Climb then, and come, as quick as you can, And dwell with the fairies, Elizabeth Ann!" 58 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY THE MIDDEN'S SONG "Bubble, Bubble, Swim to see Oh, how beautiful I be. "Fishes, Fishes, Finned and fine. What's your gold Compared with mine? "Why, then, has Wise Tishnar made One so lovely, Yet so sad? "Lone am I, And can but make A little song. For singing's sake." 63 DOWN-ADOWN-DERRY ALL BUT BLIND All but blind In his chambered hole Gropes for worms The four-clawed Mole. All but blind In the evening sky The hooded Bat Twirls softly by. All but blind In the burning day The Barn-Owl blunders On her way. And blind as are These three to me, So, blind to Some-one I must be. 64 ■ ■ ^T^J^KK^^KHKm ^^^H!'^^^^| ^^^H^^^^^H ^^K^^^^^l ^^^^B^^t>''-''!'''' ''-V ' .<^s^^s^^^^^p^ m ^^^^v^.. yj ^9 T ■' \j^<^>-'^^^^l bSHH U!^^. \--'''v^..' ^ ' ^S B^^H IB8iy>4>--^' ' ^ ^#"^^^^1 ^^B^P^^^^^^^^^^^^H ■Kr^^^^^-^!V^ l^^^^w^v^ ^Kk • -- ^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^•- '• "v^C ^^S^rtTS