be as big as before,
And then she'll laugh in her sleep.

But what would you say, if one fine day,
When they've got their bushiest tails,
Their grown up game should be just the same,
And she have to follow their trails?

Never weep, Bo Peep, though you lose your sheep,
And do not know where to find them;
'Tis after the sun the mothers have run,
And there are their lambs behind them.

I confess again to having touched up a little, but it loses far more
in Diamond's sweet voice singing it than it gains by a rhyme here and
there.

Some of them were out of books Mr. Raymond had given him. These he
always knew, but about the others he could seldom tell. Sometimes he
would say, "I made that one." but generally he would say, "I don't know;
I found it somewhere;" or "I got it at the back of the north wind."

One evening I found him sitting on the grassy slope under the house,
with his Dulcimer in his arms and his little brother rolling on the
grass beside them. He was chanting in his usual way, more like the sound
of a brook than anything else I can think of. When I went up to them he
ceased his chant.

"Do go on, Diamond. Don't mind me," I said.

He began again at once. While he sang, Nanny and Jim sat a little way
off, one hemming a pocket-handkerchief, and the other reading a story
to her, but they never heeded Diamond. This is as near what he sang as I
can recollect, or reproduce rather.

What would you see if I took you up
To my little nest in the air?
You would see the sky like a clear blue cup
Turned upside downwards there.

What would you do if I took you there
To my little nest in the tree?
My child with cries would trouble the air,
To get what she could but see.

What would you get in the top of the tree
For all your crying and grief?
Not a star would you clutch of all you see--
You could only gather a leaf.

But when you had lost your greedy grief,
Content to see from afar,
You would find in your hand a withering leaf,
In your heart a shining star.

As Diamond went on singing, it grew very dark, and just as he ceased
there came a great flash of lightning, that blinded us all for a moment.
Dulcimer crowed with pleasure; but when the roar of thunder came after
it, the little brother gave a loud cry of terror. Nanny and Jim came
running up to us, pale with fear. Diamond's face, too, was paler than
usual, but with delight.