Rewards and Fairies | Page 3

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REWARDS AND FAIRIES
RUDYARD KIPLING

Contents A Charm Introduction Cold Iron Cold Iron Gloriana The Two
Cousins The Looking-Glass The Wrong Thing A Truthful Song King
Henry VII and the Shipwrights Marklake Witches The Way through the
Woods Brookland Road The Knife and the Naked Chalk The Run of
the Downs Song of the Men's Side Brother Square-Toes Philadelphia If
- 'A Priest in Spite of Himself' A St Helena Lullaby 'Poor Honest Men'
The Conversion of St Wilfrid Eddi's Service Song of the Red War-Boat
A Doctor of Medicine An Astrologer's Song 'Our Fathers of Old'
Simple Simon The Thousandth Man Frankie's Trade The Tree of
Justice The Ballad of Minepit Shaw A Carol

A Charm
Take of English earth as much As either hand may rightly clutch. In the
taking of it breathe Prayer for all who lie beneath - Not the great nor
well-bespoke, But the mere uncounted folk Of whose life and death is
none Report or lamentation. Lay that earth upon thy heart, And thy
sickness shall depart!
It shall sweeten and make whole Fevered breath and festered soul; It
shall mightily restrain Over-busy hand and brain; it shall ease thy
mortal strife 'Gainst the immortal woe of life, Till thyself restored shall
prove By what grace the Heavens do move.
Take of English flowers these - Spring's full-faced primroses, Summer's

wild wide-hearted rose, Autumn's wall-flower of the close, And, thy
darkness to illume, Winter's bee-thronged ivy-bloom. Seek and serve
them where they bide From Candlemas to Christmas-tide, For these
simples used aright Shall restore a failing sight.
These shall cleanse and purify Webbed and inward-turning eye; These
shall show thee treasure hid, Thy familiar fields amid, At thy threshold,
on thy hearth, Or about thy daily path; And reveal (which is thy need)
Every man a King indeed!

Introduction
Once upon a time, Dan and Una, brother and sister, living in the
English country, had the good fortune to meet with Puck, alias Robin
Goodfellow, alias Nick o' Lincoln, alias Lob-lie-by-the- Fire, the last
survivor in England of those whom mortals call Fairies. Their proper
name, of course, is 'The People of the Hills'. This Puck, by means of
the magic of Oak, Ash, and Thorn, gave the children power
To see what they should see and hear what they should hear, Though it
should have happened three thousand year.
The result was that from time to time, and in different places on the
farm and in the fields and in the country about, they saw and talked to
some rather interesting people. One of these, for instance, was a Knight
of the Norman Conquest, another a young Centurion of a Roman
Legion stationed in England, another a builder and decorator of King
Henry VII's time; and so on and so forth; as I have tried to explain in a
book called PUCK OF POOK'S HILL.
A year or so later, the children met Puck once more, and though they
were then older and wiser, and wore boots regularly instead of going
barefooted when they got the chance, Puck was as kind to them as ever,
and introduced them to more people of the old days.
He was careful, of course, to take away their memory of their walks
and conversations afterwards, but otherwise he did not interfere; and
Dan and Una would find the strangest sort of persons in their gardens
or woods.
In the stories that follow I am trying to tell something about those
people.

COLD IRON
When Dan and Una had arranged to go out before breakfast, they did
not remember that it was Midsummer Morning. They only wanted to
see the otter which, old Hobden said, had been fishing their brook for
weeks; and early morning was the time to surprise him. As they tiptoed
out of the house into the wonderful stillness, the church clock struck
five. Dan took a few steps across the dew-blobbed lawn, and looked at
his black footprints.
'I think we ought to be kind to our