Produced by Al Haines. FIRES BOOK III THE HARE, AND OTHER TALES BY WILFRID WILSON GIBSON LONDON ELKIN MATHEWS, VIGO STREET M CM XII _BY THE SAME WRITER_ WOMENKIND (1912) DAILY BREAD (1910) THE STONEFOLDS (1907) ON THE THRESHOLD (1907) CONTENTS The Dancing Seal The Slag Devil’s Edge The Lilac Tree The Old Man The Hare _Thanks are due to the editors of_ RHYTHM, _and_ THE NATION, _for leave to reprint some of these tales_. FIRES THE DANCING SEAL When we were building Skua Light-- The first men who had lived a night Upon that deep-sea Isle-- As soon as chisel touched the stone, The friendly seals would come ashore; And sit and watch us all the while, As though they’d not seen men before; And so, poor beasts, had never known Men had the heart to do them harm. They’d little cause to feel alarm With us, for we were glad to find Some friendliness in that strange sea; Only too pleased to let them be And sit as long as they’d a mind To watch us: for their eyes were kind Like women’s eyes, it seemed to me. So, hour on hour, they sat: I think They liked to hear the chisels’ clink: And when the boy sang loud and clear, They scrambled closer in to hear; And if he whistled sweet and shrill, The queer beasts shuffled nearer still: But every sleek and sheeny skin Was mad to hear his violin. When, work all over for the day, He’d take his fiddle down and play His merry tunes beside the sea, Their eyes grew brighter and more bright, And burned and twinkled merrily: And as I watched them one still night, And saw their eager sparkling eyes, I felt those lively seals would rise Some shiny night ere he could know, And dance about him, heel and toe, Unto the fiddle’s heady tune. And at the rising of the moon, Half-daft, I took my stand before A young seal lying on the shore; And called on her to dance with me. And it seemed hardly strange when she Stood up before me suddenly, And shed her black and sheeny skin; And smiled, all eager to begin... And I was dancing, heel and toe, With a young maiden white as snow, Unto a crazy violin.