lay gray and sodden under a dripping sky. 

 Then his laden legions came hurrying pell- 

 mell out of the north, with store of pearl 

 and silver and crystal. He commanded, 

 it stood fast; he spake, it was done a 

 waking world outdazzles Fairyland. 



It must be these are the borrowing-days. 

 Saith the old rhyme : 



" March borrowed frae April 

 Three days, and they were ill. 

 The first o' them was wind and weet ; 

 The next o' them was snaw and sleet ; 

 The third o' them was sic a freeze 

 That the birds' legs stuck to the trees." 



If the birds are not fast it must be because 

 they have all got to cover. Nowhere any 

 bare twig invites their perch. You will find 

 them all ahuddle under eaves, in barns and 

 hay-lofts wherever they could safely bide 

 through the pelting of this pitiless storm. 



Do but look down the avenue. Long 

 boughs either hand roof it over with crjjstal 

 fret-work ; the road winds through a floor 

 of beaten silver, and fence and hedge drip 

 silver fringe. 



Grass-land and wheat show emerald, set 

 under seas of glass. Orchard boughs bend 

 low in grottoes such as Elfland never knew. 

 Sunrise flings through and over it an in- 



