OFTEN-WHO-CAME.
Reading edition
There was once a man, and he had a handsome daughter, and every one was in love with her. There used to be two youths constantly coming to her, courting her. One of them pleased her and the other did not. The man she did not care for used often to come to her father’s house to get a sight of herself, and to be in her company, while the man she liked used not come but seldom. The father preferred she should marry the boy who was constantly coming, and he made one day a big dinner and sent every one an invitation. When every one was gathered he said to his daughter, “Drink a drink now,” says he, “on the man you like best in this company,” for he thought she would drink to the man he liked best himself. She lifted the glass in her hand and stood up and looked round her, and then said this rann:—
“I drink the good health of Often-Who-Came, Who often comes not I also must name, Who often comes not I often must blame That he comes not as often as Often-Who-Came!”
She sat down when she had spoken this quatrain, and said no other word that evening; but the youth Often-Who-Came did not come as far as her again, for he understood he was not wanted, and she married the man of her own choice with her father’s consent.
I heard no more of them since.
Translated by Dr. Douglas Hyde.