Days of the Discoverers

Excerpt

TO FORESTA

Upon the road to Faerie,
O there are many sights to see,—
Small woodland folk may one discern
Housekeeping under leaf and fern,
And little tunnels in the grass
Where caravans of goblins pass,
And airy corsair-craft that float
On wings transparent as a mote,—
All sorts of curious things can be
Upon the road to Faerie!
Along the wharves of Faerie—
There all the winds of Christendie
Are musical with hawk-bell chimes,
Carillons rung to minstrels' rimes,
And silver trumpets bravely blown
From argosies of lands unknown,
And the great war-drum's wakening roll—
The reveillé of heart and soul—
For news of all the ageless sea
Comes to the quays of Faerie!
Across the fields to Faerie
There is no lack of company,—
The world is real, the world is wide,
But there be many things beside.
Who once has known that crystal spring
Shall not lose heart for anything.
The blessing of a faery wife
Is love to sweeten all your life.
To find the truth whatever it be—
That is the luck of Faerie!
Above the gates of Faerie
There bends a wild witch-hazel tree.
The fairies know its elfin powers.
They wove a garland of the flowers,
And on a misty autumn day
They crowned their queen—and ran away!
And by that gift they made you free
Of all the roads of Faerie!
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"'I will tell you where there is plenty of it'" (in color)"'And Freya came from Asgard in her chariot drawn by two cats'" (in color)"Nils marked out an inscription in Runic letters""The miniature globe took form as the children watched, fascinated""He proposed that Caonaba should put on the gift the Spanish captain had brought""A sapling, bent down, was attached to a noose ingeniously hidden""The natives seemed prepared to traffic in all peace and friendliness" (in color)"Cortes flung about his shoulders his own cloak""Moteczuma awaited them in the courtyard" (in color)"Cartier read from his service-book""The creatures darkened the plain almost as far as the eye could see""'Gentlemen, whence does this fleet come?'""Drake was silent, fingering the slender Milanese poniard""If he had to wear her fetters, they should at least be golden""The Grand Master of the day entered the dining hall"

I

ASGARD THE BEAUTIFUL

A red fox ran into the empty church. In the middle of the floor he sat up and looked around. Nothing stirred—not the painted figures on the wooden walls, nor the boy who now stood in the doorway. This boy was gray-eyed and flaxen-haired, and might have been eleven or twelve years old. He was looking for the good old priest, Father Ansgar, and the wild shy animal eyeing him from the foot of the altar made it only too clear that the church, like the village, was deserted....