Down in the valley, what should meet him But a troop of Gipsies on their march ? No doubt with the annual gifts to greet him.
Now, in your land, Gipsies reach you, only After reaching all lands beside;
North they go, South they go, trooping or lonely, And still, as they travel far and wide,
Catch they and keep now a trace here, a trace there, That puts you in mind of a place here, a place there. But with us, I believe they rise out of the ground, And nowhere else, I take it, are found
With the earth-tint yet so freshly embrowned; Born, no doubt, like insects which breed on
very fruit they are meant to feed on.
For the earth-not a use to which they don't turn it, The ore that grows in the mountain's womb, Or the sand in the pits like a honeycomb, They sift and soften it, bake it and burn it- Whether they weld you, for instance, a snaffle With side-bars never a brute can baffle;
Or a lock that's a puzzle of wards within wards; Or, if your colt's fore foot inclines to curve inwards, Horseshoes they hammer which turn on a swivel And won't allow the hoof to shrivel.
Then they cast bells like the shell of the winkle That keep a stout heart in the ram with their tinkle ; But the sand-they pinch and pound it like otters; Commend me to Gipsy glass-makers and potters ! Glasses they'll blow you, crystal-clear,
Where just a faint cloud of rose shall appear, As if in pure water you dropped and let die A bruised black-blooded mulberry;
And that other sort, their crowning pride, With long white threads distinct inside, Like the lake-flower's fibrous roots which dangle Loose such a length and never tangle,
Where the bold sword-lily cuts the clear waters, And the cup-lily couches with all the white daughters : Such are the works they put their hand to,
The uses they turn and twist iron and sand to.
And these made the troop, which our Duke saw sally Toward his castle from out of the valley,
Men and women, like new-hatched spiders, Come out with the morning to greet our riders. And up they wound till they reached the ditch, Whereat all stopped save one, a witch That I knew, as she hobbled from the group, By her gait directly and her stoop,
I, whom Jacynth was used to importune To let that same witch tell us our fortune. The oldest Gipsy then above ground; And, sure as the autumn season came round, She paid us a visit for profit or pastime, And every time, as she swore, for the last time. And presently she was seen to sidle
Up to the Duke till she touched his bridle, So that the horse of a sudden reared up As under its nose the old witch peered up With her worn-out eyes, or rather eye-holes Of no use now but to gather brine, And began a kind of level whine
Such as they used to sing to their viols When their ditties they go grinding
Up and down with nobody minding:
And then, as of old, at the end of the humming
Her usual presents were forthcoming
-A dog-whistle blowing the fiercest of trebles, (Just a sea-shore stone holding a dozen fine pebbles,) Or a porcelain mouth-piece to screw on a pipe-end,- And so she awaited her annual stipend.
But this time, the Duke would scarcely vouchsafe
A word in reply; and in vain she felt
With twitching fingers at her belt
For the purse of sleek pine-martin pelt, Ready to put what he gave in her pouch safe,- Till, either to quicken his apprehension,
Or possibly with an after-intention,
She was come, she said, to pay her duty To the new Duchess, the youthful beauty. No sooner had she named his lady, Than a shine lit up the face so shady,
And its smirk returned with a novel meaning- For it struck him, the babe just wanted weaning; If one gave her a taste of what life was and sorrow, She, foolish to-day, would be wiser to-morrow; And who so fit a teacher of trouble
As this sordid crone bent well-nigh double? So, glancing at her wolf-skin vesture,
(If such it was, for they grow so hirsute
That their own fleece serves for natural fur-suit) He was contrasting, 't was plain from his gesture, The life of the lady so flower-like and delicate With the loathsome squalor of this helicat.
I, in brief, was the man the Duke beckoned From out of the throng, and while I drew near He told the crone-as I since have reckoned By the way he bent and spoke into her ear With circumspection and mystery- The main of the lady's history,
Her frowardness and ingratitude;
And for all the crone's submissive attitude
I could see round her mouth the loose plaits tightening, And her brow with assenting intelligence brightening, As though she engaged with hearty goodwill Whatever he now might enjoin to fulfil,
And promised the lady a thorough frightening. And so, just giving her a glimpse
Of a purse, with the air of a man who imps The wing of the hawk that shall fetch the hernshaw, He bade me take the Gipsy mother
And set her telling some story or other
Of hill or dale, oak-wood or fernshaw, To wile away a weary hour
For the lady left alone in her bower, Whose mind and body craved exertion And yet shrank from all better diversion.
Then clapping heel to his horse, the mere curveter, Out rode the Duke, and after his hollo
Horses and hounds swept, huntsman and servitor, And back I turned and bade the crone follow. And what makes me confident what 's to be told you Had all along been of this crone's devising,
Is, that, on looking round sharply, behold you, There was a novelty quick as surprising: For first, she had shot up a full head in stature, And her step kept pace with mine nor faltered, As if age had foregone its usurpature, And the ignoble mien was wholly altered,
And the face looked quite of another nature,
And the change reached too, whatever the change meant, Her shaggy wolf-skin cloak's arrangement:
For where its tatters hung loose like sedges,
Gold coins were glittering on the edges,
Like the band-roll strung with tomans Which proves the veil a Persian woman's: And under her brow, like a snail's horns newly Come out as after the rain he paces,
Two unmistakeable eye-points duly
Live and aware looked out of their places. So, we went and found Jacynth at the entry Of the lady's chamber standing sentry;
I told the command and produced my companion, And Jacynth rejoiced to admit any one,
For since last night, by the same token, Not a single word had the lady spoken: They went in both to the presence together, While I in the balcony watched the weather.
And now, what took place at the very first of all,
I cannot tell, as I never could learn it:
Jacynth constantly wished a curse to fall On that little head of hers and burn it
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