r86 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



crescent, wide curious eyes, like deep 

 frost-free pools that drink the sky, and 

 all her tender body is wrapped in a 

 warm mist, her mother's vital breath. 

 Capriciously she webs a soft green 

 gown, and meshes in its folds snow- 

 flakes and violets, and in its trailing 

 length ensnares bright birds, who hold 

 it not imprisonment, and sing so freely 

 that strains of music float from the 

 folds that sweep the ground. The 

 broad girdle to bind the robe about 

 is wrought with gold in dent-de-lion 

 work, and the ruby clasps are gorgets 

 of humming-birds rivetted with dia- 

 mond raindrops. At her first touch, 

 the mole, deep in his tunnelled home, 

 bestirs himself; the spring breaks forth, 

 and at the cadence of her spinning- 

 song, the motive floats aloft and the 

 swift hawk feels its pang. Even re- 

 luctant man, so far withdrawn from 



