THE CAP AND BELLS;

OR,

THE JEALOUSIES:

A FAERY TALE-UNFINISHED.

THE CAP AND BELLS;

OR,

THE JEALOUSIES:

A FAERY TALE-UNFINISHED.

I,

IN midmost Ind, beside Hydaspes cool,
There stood, or hover'd, tremulous in the air,
A faery city, 'neath the potent rule

Of Emperor Elfinan; fam'd ev'rywhere
For love of mortal woman, maidens fair,

Whose lips were solid, whose soft hands were made
Of a fit mould and beauty, ripe and rare,

To pamper his slight wooing, warm yet staid : He lov'd girls smooth as shades, but hated a mere shade.

II.

This was a crime forbidden by the law;
And all the priesthood of his city wept,
For ruin and dismay they well foresaw,
If impious prince no bound or limit kept,

And faery Zendervester overstept;

They wept, he sinn'd, and still he would sin on, They dreamt of sin, and he sinn'd while they

slept;

In vain the pulpit thunder'd at the throne, Caricature was vain, and vain the tart lampoon.

III.

Which seeing, his high court of parliament
Laid a remonstrance at his Highness' feet,
Praying his royal senses to content

Themselves with what in faery land was sweet,
Befitting best that shade with shade should meet :
Whereat, to calm their fears, he promis'd soon
From mortal tempters all to make retreat,—
Aye, even on the first of the new moon,
An immaterial wife to espouse as heaven's boon.

IV.

Meantime he sent a fluttering embassy
To Pigmio, of Imaus sovereign,

To half beg, and half demand, respectfully,

The hand of his fair daughter Bellanaine ;

An audience had, and speeching done, they gain Their point, and bring the weeping bride away; Whom, with but one attendant, safely lain Upon their wings, they bore in bright array, While little harps were touch'd by many a lyric fay.

V.

As in old pictures tender cherubim

A child's soul thro' the sapphir'd canvas bear,
So, thro' a real heaven, on they swim

With the sweet princess on her plumaged lair,
Speed giving to the winds her lustrous hair;
And so she journey'd, sleeping or awake,
Save when, for healthful exercise and air,
She chose to "promener à l'aile," or take
A pigeon's somerset, for sport or change's sake.

VI.

"Dear Princess, do not whisper me so loud,"
Quoth Corallina, nurse and confidant,
"Do not you see there, lurking in a cloud,
Close at your back, that sly old Crafticant?
He hears a whisper plainer than a rant :
Dry up your tears, and do not look so blue;
He's Elfinan's great state-spy militant,

His running, lying, flying foot-man too,—
Dear mistress, let him have no handle against you!

VII.

"Show him a mouse's tail, and he will guess,

With metaphysic swiftness, at the mouse;
Show him a garden, and with speed no less,
He'll surmise sagely of a dwelling house,