Before the night passed away the Child awoke, and started up on his
feet, to convince himself he was not still dreaming. Whenever he awoke
in his own little cave, the waves were heaving and breaking against the
rocks far below; he felt there was something awake beside himself, and
he was not alone; and so, after listening a few minutes to the ceaseless
song, he fell peacefully asleep again. But here in the wood all was so
still. The bees were fast asleep hanging to their combs; not a
field-mouse nor a squirrel was stirring near him; even the winds seemed
to have fallen asleep among the branches, and the birds rested in their
warm nests. Only now and then a little bird gave a slight dreamy stir
and chirp, as if it were talking in its sleep; or a large moth would
whiz past him, and be out of hearing in a moment. The Child could not
bear to feel so silent and alone amidst the multitude of living
creatures, and yet he shrank from the sound of his own voice; so he
crept noiselessly on to where the moonbeams broke through an opening in
the trees. When he reached the clear space, he found the trees there
began to be scattered thinly about, whilst the little stream flowed
silently through the open glade among the silvery ferns. It was pleasant
to stand again under the open sky; and as he stood still, he caught the
sound of waters falling in the distance. It reminded him of his own home
by the sea, only the rush was constant,--not rising and falling like the
organ-swell of the waves. The Child followed the sound, till he reached
a waterfall gleaming like a white robe in the moonlight. He watched it a
long time with wondering delight, to see the silvery waters ever the
same, yet ever new; always leaping after each other with such a startled
joy over the edge of the rocks, and always sinking with such content
into the deep dark pool beneath, again to set out on a new journey among
the sand and pebbles.
The Child knew the way they would have to go among the thick trees into
the wood, and he thought of the surprise and delight it would be to them
to lose themselves among their companions in the boundless sea, and be
changed into waves, the homes of countless happy living creatures.
So the Child's heart followed the little stream until his feet followed
his heart, and he climbed in the moonlight up the rocks by the side of
the waterfall. Many tough old ferns and young saplings held out their
hands to help him up, and so he reached the top and stood on the open
plain above. There, as far as he could see, the little stream gleamed
and sparkled in the moonbeams, until it was lost in the shadow of the
great hills beyond. Above those hills rose mountains with snowy brows
open to the moon; and when the Child looked on the other side, his eye
was lost in the thick shadows of the wood, where so many living
creatures were quietly sleeping.
The song of the earth was hushed; but as the Child looked up into the
heavens, the same song seemed to flow down to him from above. And as he
listened, the moon went down behind the mountains, and the silvery veil
of moonbeams grew so dim that star after star began to peep through it
on the Child. These grew brighter and brighter as they and the Child
looked into each other's eyes; and more and more came forth, till the
heavens were full of millions of happy stars. Every moment the firmament
seemed to become deeper and fuller, and the Child's heart grew fuller of
joy. For from every star came a separate tone of music, and once more
the music seemed almost to form itself into a Name. But the Child could
not catch what it was; and he clasped his hands, and, looking up, said
to the stars, "You are so far off, I cannot hear what you are singing,
but I am sure you know the words of the Song. Bend down to me, happy
stars, and tell me the words, that I may sing with you."
The stars answered the Child by a richer and deeper peal of music. But
still there were no words, till they hid themselves again in the gray of
morning.
Then the child seated himself among the ferns; his fair head sank on his
bosom, and he fell asleep.
But in his sleep he was still looking up into the heavens; and there,
where the stars had been, he saw white robes floating like moonlit
clouds, and human faces like his own looking down on him with tender
love, and he heard them sing with human voices the old sweet solemn
Song; but it had new tones in it, sweeter than any he had ever heard
before, and there were words: but the words were in a language the Child
did not know, and in his dream he wept bitterly to hear such sweet
songs, so full of love and joy, and not to know what they meant.
But from above the singers came a Voice sweeter and more tender than any
of theirs, yet mighty as the sound of many waters, and it said to him,
"Weep not: thou also shalt learn the Song."
Then he remembered the mother bird on her nest, and it seemed to him as
if something like a mother's love were brooding over him in the heavens.
So the Child awoke with a new joy in his heart. He was sure that Voice
must have spoken the truth, and with a light and buoyant heart he
retraced his steps through the wood beside the stream till he reached
his own little cave and the sea-shore. There all his old friends were in
a flutter of delight to see him back again. The flowers looked so glad
that they almost spoke; the cockles dived into the sand and up again as
if they were playing at hide-and-seek; the sand-borers fluttered their
feathered heads, and the anemones spread all their living petals; the
crabs performed all sorts of ridiculous gambols; the little shrimps
darted in and out among the crimson copses of coralline and the tufts of
glittering green sea-weed; tiny silver fish shot under the sand arches,
their black silver-rimmed eyes watching the Child. Corynes stretched out
their little fingers, plant animals rang their delicate bells of
glass-thread, and even the sleepy brown and crimson sponges were more
active than usual in making their tiny whirlpools.
And the Child said to all of them, "I do not know the Song yet, but I
shall know it by-and-by, and then we will sing it together."