140 FOREST FANCIES 



and my axe shall do your bidding, my fairy 

 queen. For I will not forget my promise — I 

 will be true : I will serve you to the end of my 

 days." 



'*Then give me your hand over running 

 water; remember, only he who is true, must 

 vow.'' 



So he knelt in the ferns beside the stream 

 and vowed over running water. But when he 

 arose, the queen was gone, the nymphs were 

 flown — a hundred years had rolled away: he 

 saw the forest of the future, crowning the hills 

 from sea to sea. 



Then this, too, vanished. He stood in the 

 limitless Present, alone with the trees. 



