When 'Tom came home from labour and Cis from milking rose,' there was
now no more sound of tabor, nor 'merrily went their toes.' Tom went to
the Public House or the Preaching House, and Cis—Cis waited till Tom
should come home and kick her into a jelly (his toes going merrily
enough at that work), or tell her she was, spiritually, in a parlous
case. So the Fairy Queen and all her court had long since fled from
England, and long ago made a home in the undiscovered isles of the
South. Now they all met and mingled in the throng of the Polynesian
fairy folk, and, rushing down into the waters, they revelled all night
on the silvery sand, in the windless dancing places of the deep. Tanê
and Tawhiti came, the Gods of the tides and the shores, and all the
fairies sang to them:
'Tawhiti, on the sacred beach
The purple pandanus is thine!
How soft the breakers come and go,
How bright the fragrant berries blow,
The fern-tree scents the shining reach,
And Tanê dances down the brine!'
Such is the poetry of the Polynesian fairies. It is addicted to
frequent repetitions of the same obvious remark, and it does not
contain a Criticism of Life, so we do not give any more of it. But,
such as it was, it seemed to afford great pleasure to the dancers,
probably because every one of them could compose any amount of it
himself, at will, and every dancer was 'his own poet,' than which
nothing can be more salubrious and delightful.
Thus the dance and the revel swang and swayed through the silver halls
till the green lights began to glow with gold and scarlet and crimson,
burning into dawn. Then came a sudden noise, like thunder, crashing and
roaring through the silence of the sea. Queen Mab clapped her hands,
and, in one moment, the Sacred Isle had flitted back to its place, and
the music stopped, and the dancers vanished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account