Verse Old and New.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 18, 30 October 1912, Page 71

Verse Old and New.

The Brown Dwarf of Rugen. ▼ | v HE pleasant isle of Rugen looks the Baltic water o’er, I ' To the silver-sanded beaches of the Pomeranian shore;

And in the town of Rambin a little boy and maid Plucked the meadow-flowers together and in the sea-surf played."

Alike were they in beauty if not in their degree ; He was the Anvptman’s first-born, the* miller's child was she.

Now of old the isle of Rugen was full of Dwarfs and Trolls, The brown-faced little Earth-men, the "people without souls ;

And, for every man and woman in Rngen’s island found Walking in air and sunshine, a. Troll was underground.

It chanced the little maiden, one morning, strolled away Among the haunted Nine Hills, where the elves and goblins play.

That day, in barley-fields below, the harvesters had known Of evil voices in the air, and heard the small horns blown.

She came not back : the search for her in field ami wood was vain : They cried her east, they cried her west, but she came not again.

“She's down among the Brown Dwarfs,” sard the dream-wives wise and old.

And prayers were made, and masses said, and Rambin's ehureh-bell tolled.

Five years her father mourned her ; and then John Deitrieh said : “I will find my little playmate, be she alive or dead.”

He watched among the Nine Hills, he heard the Brown Dwarfs sing, And saw them dance by moonlight merrily in a ring.

And when their gay-robed leader tossed up his cap of red, Young Deitrieh caught it as it fell—and thrust it on his head.

The Troll came eronching at his feet and wept for lack of it. “ Oh, give me back my magic cap, for your great head unfit 1”

“ Nay,” Deitrieh said ; “ the Dwarf who throws his charmed cap away, Must serve its finder at his will, and for his folly pay.

“You stole my pretty Lisbeth, and hid ■her in the earth ; And you shall ope the doer of glass and let me lead her forth.”

“ She will not come ; she's one of us ; she’s mine !” the Brown Dwarf said ; “ The day is set, the cake is baked, tomorrow we shall wed.”

“The fell fiend fetch thee!” Deitrieh cried, “and keep thy font tongue still.

Quick ! open to thy evil v door of the hill !

The Dwarf obeyed ; and youth and Troll down the long stairway passed, Ami saw in dim and sunless light a country strange and vast.

Weird, rich, and wonderful, he saw the elfin under-land— Its palaces of precious stones, its streets of golden sand.

He eame into a banquet-Irall with tables richly spread, Where a young maiden served to him the red wine and the bread.

How fair she seemed among the Trolls so ugly ami so wild !

Yet pale and very sorrowful, like one who never smiled ! Her low, sweet voice, her gold-brown hair, her tender blue eyes seemed Like something he had seen elsewhere or something he had dreamed. He looked ; he clasped her in his arms ; he knew the long-lost one ; “Oh Lisbeth-i See thy playmate—l am the Amptman’s son I” She leaned her fair head on his breast, and through her sobs she spoke : “ Oh, take me from this evil place, and from the elfin folk ! “And let me tread the grass-green fields and smell the flowers again, And feel the soft wind on my cheek and hear the dropping rain ! “ And oh, to hear the singing bird, the rustling of the tree, The lowing cows, the bleat of sheep, t'.ie voices of the sea ; “And oh, upon my father's knee to sit . beside the. door, And hear the Irell of vespers ring in Ranibin church once piore I” He kissed her cheek, ho kissed her lips ; the Brown Dwarf groaned to see, And tore his tangled hair and ground his long teeth angrily. But Deitrieh said : “ For five long years this tender Christian maid Has served you in your evil world and well must she be paid ! “Haste!—hither bring me precious gems, the richest in jour store ; Then when we pass the gate of glass, you'll take your cap onee more.” No choice was left the baffled Troll, and, murmuring, he obeyed, And filled the pockets of the youth ami apron of the maid. They left the dreadful under-land and passed the gate of glass ; They felt the sunshine's warm caress, they trod the soft, green grass. And when, beneath, they saw the Dwarf stretch up to them his brown And crooked claw-like fingers, they tossed his red eap down.

Oh, never shone so bright a nun, was never s’ y so bin". As hand in hard they ’ d walked the pleasant nr- through ! And never sang the birds .so sweet in Rambin’s woods before, And never washed the waves so soft along the Baltic shore ; And when beneath his door-yard trees the father met his child, The bells rung oufe their merriest peal, the folks with joy ran wild, wild. And soon from Rambin’s holy church the twain eame forth as one, Tiie Amptir.au kissed a daughter, the miller blest a son. John Deitrieh’s fame went far and wide, and nurse and maid crooned o’er Their cradle song : “ Sleep on, sleep well the Trolls shall come no more I” more ! ” For in the haunted Nine Hills he set a cross of stone ; Ami Elf and Brown Dwarf sought in vain a door w Iw.t c door was none. The tower ho built in Rambin, fair Rugen's pride and boast, Looked o’er the Baltic water to the Pomeranian ••oast ; And, for his worth ennobled, ami null beyond compare. Count Deitrieh and his lovely bride dwelt long and happy there. John Greenleaf Whittier. ►5 <5 The Man's Prayer. When all is still within these walls And Thy sweet sleep through darkness falls On little hearts that trust in me. • However bitter toil may be. For length of days, (> Lord! on Theo My spirit calls. Their daily need by day enthralls My hand and brain, but when night falls And leaves the questioning spirit free To brood upon the days to bo, For time and strength, O Lord! on Thee My spirit calls.