Once a Spirit of the hills,
Where the gum-trees glisten, Met the lyre-birds at their play,Stopped to look and listen. For their pretty minuet,With its airy graces,
Seemed to match the lights that dance In such leafy places.
Then the kindly Spirit spoke, Like a mountain mother,"To the gift you now possess I shall add another.
Every song and every sound Heard by range or river,You shall be its mocking bird, Echoing for ever. "So the Spirit waved its wand, Just as fairies do it,And the gift of song was theirs, Every dancer knew it.
If you doubt or disbelieve By a single feather,Come, and you may hear and see Song and dance together.
From At the End of the Moonpath, by Donald MaCdonald.
About the Author.-See preceding lesson.
About the Poem.-What gift did the Spirit of the Hills give to the lyre- birds? Why? Pronounce "minuet" as it is spelt, and not as min-u-ay.