Interpretations 



me and that is ample for my needs and, strange 

 enough, in this world, it reaches to the outer- 

 bounds of my desires. I am happy, too, be- 

 cause the crows are and so I hail them as my 

 friends. It is true, they will not interpret 

 aright my meaning, but this shall not cast a 

 shadow over my sun-bright sky. 



All the while, the quick wren has been sing- 

 ing. Quickened unto a fuller life than any man 

 can lead, the wren is my leader and I fall be- 

 hind it so far that I am not in strict sense a 

 follower. Mer-ri-lee, Mer-ri-lee, Mer-ri-lee! 

 Three times over and never with a lack of en- 

 ergy, though now it has been singing for full 

 five minutes. That is a longer period in the 

 wren's calculations than twelve times five ia 

 ours. The eye can follow when the body can-- 

 not, and now that I force the bird to quit its 

 perch, it is marvellous to see what a range of 

 country it covers in a brief moment. From 

 tree to tree, down to the ground in a tangle of 

 smilax and up to the peak of the barn roof. 

 Through the cavernous old mows and out at a 

 knot-hole and back again to its starting point, 

 and all the while declaring itself to be taking 

 life Mer-ri-lee, Mer-ri-lee, Mer-ri-lee! 



131 



