The Sleeping Bard | Page 3

I perceive that you are gentry
from distant parts, will you deign to take a Bard along with you, who is
desirous of travelling?" At these words the hurly-burly was hushed, and
all fixed their eyes upon me: "_Bard_," squeaked one--"_travel_," said
another--"_along with us_," said the third. By this time I saw some
looking particularly fierce upon me; then they began to whisper in each
others ears certain secret words, and to look at me; at length the
whispering ceased, and each laying his gripe upon me they raised me
upon their shoulders, as we do a knight of the shire, and then away with
me they flew like the wind, over houses and fields, cities and kingdoms,
seas and mountains; and so quickly did they fly that I could fasten my
sight upon nothing, and what was worse, I began to suspect that my
companions, by their frowning and knitting their brows at me, wanted
me to sing blasphemy against my King and Maker.
"Well," said I to myself, "I may now bid farewell to life, these cursed
witches will convey me to the pantry or cellar of some nobleman, and
there leave me, to pay with my neck for their robberies; or they will
abandon me stark naked, to freeze to death upon the sea-brink of old
Shire Caer, {3} or some other cold, distant place;" but on reflecting that

all the old hags whom I had once known had long been dead and buried,
and perceiving that these people took pleasure in holding or waving me
over hollow ravines, I conjectured that they were not witches but
beings who are called fairies. We made no stop until I found myself by
the side of a huge castle, the most beautiful I had ever seen, with a large
pool or moat surrounding it: then they began to consult what they
should do with me; "shall we go direct to the castle with him?" said one.
"No, let us hang him or cast him into the lake, he is not worth being
shown to our great prince," said another. "Did he say his prayers before
he went to sleep?" said a third. At the mention of prayers, I uttered a
confused groan to heaven for pardon and assistance; and as soon as I
recollected myself, I saw a light at a vast distance bursting forth, Oh,
how glorious! As it drew nigh, my companions were darkening and
vanishing, and quickly there came floating towards us a form of light
over the castle, whereupon the fairies abandoned their hold of me, but
as they departed they turned upon me a hellish scowl, and unless the
angel had supported me, I should have been dashed into pieces small
enough for a pasty, by the time I reached the ground.
"What is your business here?" said the angel. "In verity my lord," I
replied, "I do not know what place _here_ is, nor what is my business,
nor what I am myself, nor what has become of my other part; I had four
limbs and a head, and whether I have left them at home, or whether the
fairies, who have certainly not acted fairly with me, have cast me into
some abyss, (for I remember to have passed over several horrid ravines,)
I cannot tell, sir, though you should cause me to be hung." "Fairly
indeed," said he, "they would have acted with you, if I had not come
just in time to save you from the clutches of these children of hell."
"Since you have such a particular desire to see the course of the _little
world_," said he, "I have received commands to give you a sight of it,
in order that you may see your error in being discontented with your
station, and your own country. Come with me," he added, "for a
peregrination," and at the word he snatched me up, just as the dawn
was beginning to break, far above the topmost tower of the castle; we
rested in the firmament upon the ledge of a light cloud to gaze upon the
rising sun; but my heavenly companion, was far more luminous than

the sun, but all his splendour was upward, by reason of a veil which
was betwixt him and the nether regions. When the light of the sun
became stronger, I could see, between the two luminaries, the vast
air-encircled world, like a little round bullet, very far beneath us. "Look
now," said the angel, giving me a different telescope from that which I
had on the mountain. When I peeped through this I saw things in a
manner altogether different from that in which I had seen them before,
and in a much clearer one. I saw a city of monstrous size, and
thousands