210 THE EECLUSE. 



J * 



THE GEMZE FAWN 



In a sunny Alpine valley 



'Neath the snowy Wetterhom, 

 See a maiden, by a chalet, 



Playing with a Gemze fawn. 

 How he pricks his ears to hear her. 



How his soft eyes flash with pride. 

 As she tells him he is dearer 



Than the whole wide world beside ! 

 Dearer than the lambkins gentle. 



Dearer than the frisking kids. 

 Or the pigeon on the lintel, 



Coming — going — as she bids. 

 Dearer than the first spring lily. 



Peeping on the snowy fell ; 

 Dearer than his little Willie 



To the heart of William TelL 



By a gr,shing glacier fountain. 



On the giant Wetterhorn, 

 'Midst the snow-fields of the mountain. 



Was the little Gemze born : 

 And his mother, though the mildest 



And the gentlest of the herd, 

 Was the fleetest and the wildest. 



And as lightsome as a bird. 

 But the gazer watch'd her gliding 



In the silence of the dawn. 

 Seeking for a place of hiding. 



For her little, tender fawn ; 

 So lie mark'd her, all unheeding 



(Swift and sure the bolt of death) ; 

 And he bore her, dead and bleeding. 



To his Alpine home beneath. 



* In all the German-Swiss cantons, and throughout the Tyrol, the 

 Chamois is called the " Gemze ; " the other name, " Chamois," prevailing 

 only in those cantons in which French is spoken. 



