PUCK’S MARKET By MADELEINE NIGHTINGALE
Reading edition
Up amongst the heather,
When the moon is high,
Lamplight in the valley,
Starlight in the sky,
Swinging on the bracken
That’s bowing to the breeze,
In and out the twinkling stems,
Go the Pharisees.[1]
Ding dong! Ding dong! All across the Down,
Twelve o’clock is striking in Littlehampton Town.
Robin’s gone a-marketing with all his merry mob;
“Wares to sell! Wares to sell, on Twelve O’clock Knob!”[2]
Ho Ho! Hey Ho!
Singing all together;
Fool a mortal were to miss
Fairy time and weather.
“Come, you lazy stay-at-homes,
While the moon is bright!
Luck is for the buying
On Midsummer Night!”
Ding dong! Ding dong! All across the Down,
Twelve o’clock is striking in Littlehampton Town.
Heather buds a-bursting! Ling bells all a-bob!
Robin—Robin’s calling on Twelve O’clock Knob.
103Fern seed! Fern seed!
Shed in Verdley Wood:
An acorn cup to gather it,
And see the measure’s good!
Treasured in a kerchief
Lover’s lips have kiss’d;
Purse-strings tight as tether-ropes
And not a penny miss’d.
Ding dong! Ding dong! All across the Down,
Twelve o’clock is striking in Littlehampton Town.
There’s cow-tails still to tangle and hen-roosts still to rob,
But Puck is out of mischief on Twelve O’clock Knob!
Chimney shadows streaking
Down the sandy street;
Creeping, creeping over them
Stealthy mortal feet;
An acorn full of fairy lore
To trade with fairy men,
But, oh, the wealth you’re taking
Before you’re home again.
Ding dong! Ding dong! All across the Down,
Twelve o’clock is striking in Littlehampton Town.
And the candles all are guttering at the nightcaps on the hob,
When Robin traffics magic on Twelve O’clock Knob.
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