- Thus the poor parents talked the time away,
- And wept, and wept, and wept." Here Bruno broke off suddenly. "The Herrings' Song wants anuvver tune, Sylvie," he said. "And I ca'n't sing it not wizout oo plays it for me!"
- Instantly Sylvie seated herself upon a tiny mushroom, that happened to grow in front of a daisy, as if
it were the most ordinary musical instrument in the world, and played on the petals as if they were the
notes of an organ. And such delicious tiny music it was! Such teeny-tiny music!
Bruno held his head on one side, and listened very gravely for a few moments until he had caught the melody. Then the sweet childish voice rang out once more:--
- "Oh, dear beyond our dearest dreams,
- Fairer than all that fairest seems!
- To feast the rosy hours away,
- To revel in a roundelay!
- How blest would be
- A life so free---
- Ipwergis-Pudding to consume,
- And drink the subtle Azzigoom!
- "And if in other days and hours,
- Mid other fluffs and other flowers,
- The choice were given me how to dine---
- 'Name what thou wilt: it shalt be thine!'
- Oh, then I see
- The life for me
- Ipwergis-Pudding to consume,
- And drink the subtle Azzigoom!" "Oo may leave off playing now, Sylvie. I can do the uvver tune much
better wizout a compliment."
"He means 'without accompaniment,'" Sylvie whispered, smiling at my puzzled look: and she pretended to shut up the stops of the organ.
- "The Badgers did not care to talk to Fish:
- They did not dote on Herrings' songs:
- They never had experienced the dish
- To which that name belongs:
- And oh, to pinch their tails,' (this was their wish,)
- 'With tongs, yea, tongs, and tongs!'" I ought to mention that he marked the parenthesis, in the air, with
his finger. It seemed to me a very good plan. You know there's no sound to represent it----any more
than there is for a question.
Suppose you have said to your friend "You are better to-day," and that you want him to understand that you are asking him a question, what can be simpler than just to make a "?". in the air with your finger? He would understand you in a moment!
- "'And are not these the Fish,' the Eldest sighed,
- 'Whose Mother dwells beneath the foam'
- 'They are the Fish!' the Second one replied.
- 'And they have left their home!'
- 'Oh wicked Fish,' the Youngest Badger cried,
- 'To roam, yea, roam, and roam!'
- "Gently the Badgers trotted to the shore
- The sandy shore that fringed the bay:
- Each in his mouth a living Herring bore----
- Those aged ones waxed gay:
- Clear rang their voices through the ocean's roar,
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