S._

XXX.
_SAARCHINKOLD._

ON THE TREE TOP.

THE GOLD-SPINNER.

A miller had a daughter,
And lovely, too, she was;
Her step was light, her smile was bright,
Her eyes were gray as glass.
(So Chaucer loved to write of eyes
In which that nameless azure lies
So like shoal-water in its hue,
Though all too crystal clear for blue.)
As you would suppose, the miller
Was very proud of her,
And would never fail to tell some tale
As to what her graces were.
On the powdery air of his own mill
Floated the whispers of her skill;
At the village inn the loungers knew
All that the pretty girl could do.

Oft in his braggart way
This foolish tale he told,
That his daughter could spin from bits of straw
Continuous threads of gold!
So boastful had he grown, forsooth,
That he cared but little for the truth:
But since this was a curious thing
It came to the knowledge of the king.

He thought it an old wife's fable,
But senseless stuff at best;
Yet, as he had greed, he cried, "Indeed!
I will put her powers to test."
With a wave of his hand, he further said
That to-morrow morning the clever maid
Should come to the castle, and he would see
What truth in the story there might be.

Next day, with a trembling step,
She reached the palace door,
And was shown into a chamber, where
Was straw upon the floor.
They brought her a chair and a spinning-wheel,
A little can of oil, and a reel;
And said that unless the work was done--
All of the straw into the gold-thread spun--
By the time that the sun was an hour high
Next morning, she would have to die.

Down sat she in despair,
Her tears falling like rain:
She had never spun a thread in her life,
Nor ever reeled a skein!
Hark! the door creaked, and through a chink,
With droll wise smile and funny wink,
In stepped a little quaint old man,
All humped, and crooked, and browned with tan.

She looked in fear and amaze
To see what he would do;
He said, "Little maid, what will you give
If I'll spin the straw for you?"
Ah, me, few gifts she had in store--
A trinket or two, and nothing more!
A necklace from her throat so slim
She took, and timidly offered him.

'Twas enough, it seemed; for he sat
At the wheel in front of her,
And turned it three times round and round,
Whirr, and whirr-rr, and whirr-rr