_A Carol_ 337 ILLUSTRATIONS 'Admiral Boy--Vice-Admiral Babe,' says Gloriana, 'I cry your pardon' _Face page_ 41 I kneeled, and he tapped me on the shoulder. 'Rise up, Sir Harry Dawe,' he says " 74 They made the sign which no Indian makes outside of the Medicine Lodges " 171 'You'll open a road from the East unto the West, and back again' " 292 _A CHARM_ _Take of English earth as much As either hand may rightly clutch. In the taking of it breathe Prayer for all who lie beneath-- Not the great nor well bespoke, But the mere uncounted folk Of whose life and death is none Report or lamentation. Lay that earth upon thy heart, And thy sickness shall depart!_ _It shall sweeten and make whole Fevered breath and festered soul; It shall mightily restrain Over-busy hand and brain; It shall ease thy mortal strife 'Gainst the immortal woe of life, Till thyself restored shall prove By what grace the Heavens do move._ _Take of English flowers these-- Spring's full-facéd primroses, Summer's wild wide-hearted rose, Autumn's wall-flower of the close, And, thy darkness to illume, Winter's bee-thronged ivy-bloom. Seek and serve them where they bide From Candlemas to Christmas-tide. For these simples used aright Shall restore a failing sight._ _These shall cleanse and purify Webbed and inward-turning eye; These shall show thee treasure hid, Thy familiar fields amid, At thy threshold, on thy hearth, Or about thy daily path; And reveal (which is thy need) Every man a King indeed!_ INTRODUCTION Once upon a time, Dan and Una, brother and sister, living in the English country, had the good fortune to meet with Puck, _alias_ Robin Goodfellow, _alias_ Nick o' Lincoln, _alias_ Lob-lie-by-the-Fire, the last survivor in England of those whom mortals call Fairies. Their proper name, of course, is 'The People of the Hills.' This Puck, by means of the magic of Oak, Ash, and Thorn, gave the children power-- To see what they should see and hear what they should hear, Though it should have happened three thousand year. The result was that from time to time, and in different places on the farm and in the fields and the country about, they saw and talked to some rather interesting people. One of these, for instance, was a Knight of the Norman Conquest, another a young Centurion of a Roman Legion stationed in England, another a builder and decorator of King Henry VII.'s time; and so on and so forth; as I have tried to explain in a book called _Puck of Pook's Hill_.