26 WHISPERS FROM FAIRYLAND. . [.

 

tolerably low branch of a mighty oak which stood
near. When Malvina had ceased speaking, they looked
at her, then at Pettina, and then at each other, and
then began to sing the following extraordinary
words :—

I.

Two sisters went walking out into the wood ;
Out into the wood when the sun was high.
Their brother they wanted to find if they could,
And their mother stayed back with a tear in her eye!
For girls must seek when their brothers are lost,
And the longer time passes, the greater the cost,
And the furnace fires are roaring !

Il.

The Prince he was playing all under the trees,
All under the trees with his nice new ball,
He wandered away till at last by degrees
No more could he hear his poor nurse’s call.
So girls must seek when their brothers are lost,
And the longer time passes the greater the cost,
And the furnace fires are roaring !

IIt.

The Giant has seized the young Prince in his arms,
His struggles and cries they are all in vain,
In the Country of Coal there are wiles and charms,
And ne’er may Prince Merry come home again !
Yet if girls do seek when their brothers are lost,
Dear to the Giant his prize may cost,
And the furnace fires stop roaring !

Having concluded their song, the squirrels imme-
diately exclaimed as if with one voice, ‘Well done,
Rindelgrover!’ and began their game again as un-
concernedly as if nothing had happened out of the
common way.