heard thousands of grubs bore deep into the wood of the trees as
cheerfully as though Summer were in the land. He saw the bees crawl
about in their busy hive and share the honey they had collected in
summer, and have a happy time. He saw the bat in the hollow tree, the
worm deep in the ground; and, wherever he turned, he saw millions of
eggs and grubs and chrysalides, well guarded and waiting confidently
for him to go away.
He stamped on the ground and shouted in his loud, hoarse voice:
"Roar forth, mine anger, roar, and rouse,
What breathes below earth's girder!
By thousands slay them!"
He shouted it over the land.
The ice broke and split into long cracks. It sounded like thunder from
the bottom of the river.
Then the storm broke loose. The gale roared so that you could hear the
trees fall crashing in the forest. The ice was split in two and the
huge floes heaped up into towering icebergs. The snow fell and drifted
over meadow and hill; sky and earth were blended into one. It was
piercingly cold, and where the snow had been blown away the ground was
hard as stone.
The Prince of Winter stood in the valley and looked upon all this
with content. He went into the forest, where the snow was frozen to
windward right up to the tips of the smooth beech-trunks; but in the
boughs of the fir-trees it lay so thick that they were weighted right
down to the ground.
"You may be Summer's servants," he said, "but still you have to resign
yourselves to wearing my livery. And now the sun shall shine on you;
and I will have a glorious day."
He bade the sun come out and he came.
He rode over a bright blue sky, and all that was still alive in the
valley raised itself towards him for warmth.
"Call Spring back to the valleys! Give us Summer again!"
The sun gleamed upon the hoar-frost but could not melt it; he stared
down at the snow, but could not thaw it. The valley lay silent.
"That's how I like to see the land," said Winter.
The Prince of Winter sat on his mountain throne again and surveyed his
kingdom and was glad. His great cold eyes stared, while he growled in
his beard.
Proud of speed and hard of hand,
A cruel lord to follow,
Winter locks up sea and land,
Blocks up every hollow.
Summer coaxes, sweet and bland,
Flowers in soft vigour,
At Winter's harsh and grim command
They die of ruthless rigour.
Short and cold is Winter's Day,
Long and worse night's hours,
Few birds languish in his pay
And yet fewer flowers.
The days wore on and Winter reigned over the land.
The little brown mice had eaten their last nut; the hedgehog was
hungry and the crows were nearly giving in.
Then suddenly there came the sound of singing.
Play up! Play soon,
Keep time! Keep time!
Ye wavelets blue and tender,
Keep time! Keep time!
Burst ice and rime
In equinoctial splendor.
Up leaped Winter and stared with his hands over his brows.
Down below in the valley stood the Prince of Spring, young and
straight in his green garb, with the lute slung over his shoulder. His
long hair waved in the wind and his face was soft and round, his mouth
was ever smiling and his eyes were dreamy and moist.
HOW SPRING AND WINTER MET
The Winter and the Spring were met:
The Winter threw a fleecy net,
And caught the young Spring over night.
He put to sleep the budding tree
Within a cloister dim and white;
And the little golden crocus flower,
That comes too early for the bee,
He hid away from sunrise hour.
The brook was conscious of his power
And lost its trick of babbling words.
But Spring awoke, despite his craft,
And out of windows looked and laughed.
At first he set to sing all birds,
With twittering voices small and clear,
And bade them say they felt no grief
To find the snow and mildewed leaf
Heaped up in nests they built last year.
Then found a crystal alcove high
The bluebird carolled to the sky.
The robin whistled cheer, good cheer!
The sparrow rung his matin bells,
And far away in reedy dells
The quail a friendly greeting sent.
Then was the stifled pine not loth
To shuffle off the dull white sloth;
Then leaped the brook by icy stair,
And snapped his fetters as he went;
The sun shone out most full and fair,
And Winter rose and struck his tent.
Edith M. Thomas.
Transcriber's Note
On pp. 13-14 the text reads, "The king took up the sack nearest to
him, their surprise, when out rushed a great heap of brown leaves,
which flew all over the floor and half choked them with dust!" It
appears there may be some missing text between "nearest to him" and
"their surprise"; there does not appear to be any damage or obscured
text in the original book, and the line count matches that of other
pages, so it may be that a line was omitted during typesetting. The
transcriber was unable to locate an alternative printing of the story,
so, as it is impossible to determine what that text may be, the
omission is preserved as printed.
Poe is referred to in this text as Edgar Allen Poe, rather than the
more usual Edgar Allan Poe. This is preserved as printed.
Although authors and translators are listed in the Table of Contents,
their names are not always included with their prose in the main text.
This convention is retained here to match the original book.
Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.
Hyphenation and capitalisation has been made consistent within
individual pieces in the book.
The following amendments have been made:
First page of Acknowledgments--Edinburg amended to
Edinburgh--"To T. C. and E. C. Jack of Edinburgh ..."
Second page of Acknowledgments--Procter amended to
Proctor--"... James Russell Lowell, Edna Dean Proctor, ..."
Second page of Contents--Horatio amended to Horatia--"...
_Juliana Horatia Ewing_ ..."
Third page of Contents--Spring and Winter reversed--"How
Spring and Winter Met ..."
Page 19--Parain amended to Parian--"... On coop or kennel he
hangs Parian wreaths; ..."
Page 52--truely amended to truly--"I have told you truly who
she is."
Page 75--place amended to placed--"... they are placed
alternately on each side ..."
Page 279--stone amended to stove--"I went under the stove
and could lie down ..."
Page 360--hop-vine amended to hop-bine--"... and a long ripe
hop-bine trailing after him ..."
The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.
The caption in {brackets} has been added by the transcriber for the
convenience of the reader.