Story and Song of Black Roderick | Page 9

her lips upon me ere she went," spake the wild bramble, "and
said she would return to us soon."
"She bid me ring a merry chime," whispered the heather, "and I move
my many bells now for her welcome, but she will not hear."
"She will speak with thee no more," said the red weasel; "she hath
walked in the city, like one goeth upon the fairy sleeping grass, and her
soul hath forgotten us."
"She is still and cold," said a shining fly glancing through the air. "I
have danced a measure under her eyes, and she did not see."
"She is dead," said the honey-bee, "for when she would not look upon
me as before, I drew my sword and stung her sharply, but she did not
stir. She sat and gazed into the distance where the smoke like a great
gray web lieth heavy. She is surely dead."
"She is not dead," said the red weasel; "she hath been to the great city."
"Maybe there she hath found Death," said the shining fly, "for his web
reacheth far, and he loveth the dark places and hidden ways. He hideth,
too, in the cool arbors of the wood, stretching a gray chain for our
undoing. Maybe she found Death. He spreadeth ropes of pearls across
our path, and looketh upon us from the shade; when the dance is gayest
he creepeth to spring. Maybe she hath reached for the pearls or hath
danced into his net."
And so the fly sang of the watcher in the wood, and his song I shall
sing thee, lest thou grow weary of my prose:
_Deep in the wood's recesses cool I see the fairy dancers glide, In cloth
of gold, in gown of green, My lord and lady side by side._
_But who has hung from leaf to leaf, From flower to flower, a silken
twine, A cloud of gray that holds the dew In globes of clear enchanted
wine,_
_Or stretches far from branch to branch, From thorn to thorn, in
diamond rain? Who caught the cup of crystal wine And hung so fair the
shining chain?_
_'Tis death the spider, in his net, Who lures the dancers as they glide, In
cloth of gold, in gown of green, My lord and lady side by side._
But a dragon-fly rattling his armor said, without heed of the singer,
"She is dead," for when she came among the heather the joyous spirit
of the mountain met her and blew upon her hair and eyes. He kissed her

worn cheek that he had known so fair, and the soft rain of his sorrow
fell to see the pity of her brow. She passed all stiff and cold; she did not
hear nor understand.
"Wind," quoth she, "blow not so fierce."
"She is not dead," saith the red weasel; "she hath been to the great city."
Now, when the young bride raised her white face from her hands and
looked about her, she could neither hear the speaking of the birds nor
see the beauty of the wild flowers, yet in her heart she had a memory of
both. Turning to the little flying things that came about her with soft,
beating wings, she said:
"Once ye spake to me, and could give comfort with your counsel and
love. Now ye are lost in the voices of the city that ring forever in my
ears."
Gazing upon the flowers, she said:
"Ye, too, your beauty hath faded. The gaudy flowers of the city have
flashed their color in my eyes, so ye I cannot see or understand."
Then she rose to her feet, though she scarce could stand, and, stretching
her arms towards the great purple hills that surrounded her father's far
home, she said towards it:
"Why didst thou call me back since thou hast let me go from the sight
of the heights that would have been always a prayer to uplift my soul?
Ahone! that thy voice was loud enough to follow and give me unrest,
that whispered always of my father's house and the valley of my home.
So must I come each eve upon this hill to look upon it from my
loneliness.
"Unloved am I, and unwished for, by him whom I have wedded. So my
heart dieth within my breast, and my soul trembleth on the brink of my
grave.
"Here upon the mountains, unprayed for and uncoffined, shall my body
lie, for thy voice hath called me forth.
"Here my black sins shall see and pursue me even to destruction; but in
the city I could have escaped with the crowding souls that confuse
Death to count."
Then, as a remembrance of her sins came heavy upon her, she gave a
loud cry and covered her