. Children's ballads from history and folklore . ed witch. Loud sounded the trumpets; the news through the landFlew fast, and each courtier in grief wrung his was oh, it was ah, and they tore at their hair,While Oleg himself was half-crazed witli ilespair. They siuiimoned the cunning, the star-gazing men,In hopes by their wisdom to find it again —Arabian, Persian, Chaldee and Chinese !As well, for advice, have consulted the geese I In throngs they came trooping, North, South, East and West;Some horoscopes drew, and some quietly each one was round-eyed, and grave as an owl,A
. Children's ballads from history and folklore . ed witch. Loud sounded the trumpets; the news through the landFlew fast, and each courtier in grief wrung his was oh, it was ah, and they tore at their hair,While Oleg himself was half-crazed witli ilespair. They siuiimoned the cunning, the star-gazing men,In hopes by their wisdom to find it again —Arabian, Persian, Chaldee and Chinese !As well, for advice, have consulted the geese I In throngs they came trooping, North, South, East and West;Some horoscopes drew, and some quietly each one was round-eyed, and grave as an owl,And nodded as sagely as that learned fowl. Quite strange to relate, they at last all agreed,Tlien sent to King Oleg their verdict with make it more mystic they put it in verse,And muttered in Sanscrit, It might have beenworse ! Wlicn from an old crone comes again your i^ohl all of your courtiers should grimace and fnmm,And though humble the goose-girl by whom it zvas won,Right there on the spot she shall tna?-ry your She picked up the glittering circlet of gold; The King then commanded the heralds to stand Her big woollen apron in many a fold .^nd blow from each corner the news thro the She wrapped round her treasure without more land, delay, That the maids of Russia of every degree, And then, undiscovered, soft trotted away. Might search if they would, all diligently. • A maiden Im seeking whose tidy and iitat,To milk and make butter, and cut up my peat,To dust and to sweep, and to go to the mill,And care for my geese when Im bu^y or ill. Then Drontha said quickly, Take me for your maid, Of hard work I am not in the least stranc;e how thick goose-girls appeared on For Drontha the oracle kept in her mind, each hand ! For perhaps it is /who the crown shall find ! Old crones, too, for mistresses, came in demand !Small service they got, when their poor backs were ^^ turned —To hunt for that crown every girls fingers burned.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidchildrensbal, bookyear1886
