THE STORY-TELLER’S INVITATION

I’ll tell you a tale of a far-off land, Cliff-girt o’er the yellow desert sand, And crowned with peaks of snow; Of forests of pine and a garden gay, Of shirts of mail in a steel-capped fray, And shafts from the six-foot bow. Of soldier-men and of maidens fair— Of a fairy princess with red-gold hair In a stronghold of wizards cruel; Of a fight or two of an old-world kind— Magazine-rifle and spear combined, And death in a hand-locked duel. Of men and women like me and you, Of love old-fashioned yet ever new, Brave eyes in a valley of fear; Of the cold grey steel and the long warm kiss, With a proper ending of honeymoon bliss— Won’t you gather round me and hear? “Ganpat”