FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



His long swoops and sudden lunges ; 

 Knew him for a foe worth fighting ; 

 Tried him with persistent challenge. 

 But no lure the monarch tempted ; 

 He was game, but wondrous wary ; 

 And the high hopes of his foeman, 

 Day by day, he dashed, he blasted. 

 Till, at last, unto the dweller 

 Of the forest, on a sudden, 

 Came a ray of inspiration, 

 As he pondered on the rapture 

 To be found in such a capture. 

 Swiftly in his birch embarking, 

 Down the stream he softly paddled, 

 And amid the reeds and rushes 

 Cast a net ; and swiftly landed 

 Scores of bright and frisky fishes, 

 One of these he now selected, 

 In whose fine, firm flesh he deftly 

 Hid two hooks upon a long line. 

 Long the line and strong, though 

 Like a thread of faery crystal. 

 Days were many to the making 

 Of that line, that crystal marvel, 

 In its color like the waters ; 

 And the hooks had both been tested 

 By the fiercest flame ; the lightning's 

 Flashes could not well be sharper, 

 When the lightning stabs the stormcloud 

 And all Heaven at once is weeping. 

 Soon his birch goes lightly leaping 

 12 





