daughter was aware of a crone that sat upon the beach. The sea

foam ran to her feet, and the dead leaves swarmed about her back,
and the rags blew about her face in the blowing of the wind.

"Now," said the King's daughter, and she named a holy name, "this
is the most unhappy old crone between two seas."

"Daughter of a King," said the crone, "you dwell in a stone house,
and your hair is like the gold: but what is your profit? Life is

not long, nor lives strong; and you live after the way of simple
men, and have no thought for the morrow and no power upon the

hour."
"Thought for the morrow, that I have," said the King's daughter;

"but power upon the hour, that have I not." And she mused with
herself.

Then the crone smote her lean hands one within the other, and
laughed like a sea-gull. "Home!" cried she. "O daughter of a

King, home to your stone house; for the longing is come upon you
now, nor can you live any more after the manner of simple men.

Home, and toil and suffer, till the gift come that will make you
bare, and till the man come that will bring you care."

The King's daughter made no more ado, but she turned about and went
home to her house in silence. And when she was come into her

chamber she called for her nurse.
"Nurse," said the King's daughter, "thought is come upon me for the

morrow, so that I can live no more after the manner of simple men.
Tell me what I must do that I may have power upon the hour."

Then the nurse moaned like a snow wind. "Alas!" said she, "that
this thing should be; but the thought is gone into your marrow, nor

is there any cure against the thought. Be it so, then, even as you
will; though power is less than weakness, power shall you have; and

though the thought is colder than winter, yet shall you think it to
an end."

So the King's daughter sat in her vaulted chamber in the masoned
house, and she thought upon the thought. Nine years she sat; and

the sea beat upon the terrace, and the gulls cried about the
turrets, and wind crooned in the chimneys of the house. Nine years

she came not abroad, nor tasted the clean air, neither saw God's
sky. Nine years she sat and looked neither to the right nor to the

left, nor heard speech of any one, but thought upon the thought of
the morrow. And her nurse fed her in silence, and she took of the

food with her left hand, and ate it without grace.
Now when the nine years were out, it fell dusk in the autumn, and

there came a sound in the wind like a sound of piping. At that the
nurse lifted up her finger in the vaulted house.

"I hear a sound in the wind," said she, "that is like the sound of
piping."

"It is but a little sound," said the King's daughter, "but yet is
it sound enough for me."

So they went down in the dusk to the doors of the house, and along
the beach of the sea. And the waves beat upon the one hand, and

upon the other the dead leaves ran; and the clouds raced in the
sky, and the gulls flew widdershins. And when they came to that

part of the beach where strange things had been done in the ancient
ages, lo, there was the crone, and she was dancing widdershins.

"What makes you dance widdershins, old crone?" said the King's
daughter; "here upon the bleak beach, between the waves and the

dead leaves?"
"I hear a sound in the wind that is like a sound of piping," quoth

she. "And it is for that that I dance widdershins. For the gift
comes that will make you bare, and the man comes that must bring

you care. But for me the morrow is come that I have thought upon,
and the hour of my power."

"How comes it, crone," said the King's daughter, "that you waver
like a rag, and pale like a dead leaf before my eyes?"

"Because the morrow has come that I have thought upon, and the hour
of my power," said the crone; and she fell on the beach, and, lo!

she was but stalks of the sea tangle, and dust of the sea sand, and
the sand lice hopped upon the place of her.

"This is the strangest thing that befell between two seas," said
the King's daughter of Duntrine.

But the nurse broke out and moaned like an autumn gale. "I am
weary of the wind," quoth she; and she bewailed her day.

The King's daughter was aware of a man upon the beach; he went
hooded so that none might perceive his face, and a pipe was

underneath his arm. The sound of his pipe was like singing wasps,
and like the wind that sings in windlestraw; and it took hold upon

men's ears like the crying of gulls.
"Are you the comer?" quoth the King's daughter of Duntrine.

"I am the corner," said he, "and these are the pipes that a man may
hear, and I have power upon the hour, and this is the song of the

morrow." And he piped the song of the morrow, and it was as long
as years; and the nurse wept out aloud at the hearing of it.

"This is true," said the King's daughter, "that you pipe the song
of the morrow; but that ye have power upon the hour, how may I know

that? Show me a marvel here upon the beach, between the waves and
the dead leaves."

And the man said, "Upon whom?"
"Here is my nurse," quoth the King's daughter. "She is weary of

the wind. Show me a good marvel upon her."
And, lo! the nurse fell upon the beach as it were two handfuls of

dead leaves, and the wind whirled them widdershins, and the sand
lice hopped between.

"It is true," said the King's daughter of Duntrine, "you are the
comer, and you have power upon the hour. Come with me to my stone

house."
So they went by the sea margin, and the man piped the song of the

morrow, and the leaves followed behind them as they went.
Then they sat down together; and the sea beat on the terrace, and

the gulls cried about the towers, and the wind crooned in the
chimneys of the house. Nine years they sat, and every year when it

fell autumn, the man said, "This is the hour, and I have power in
it"; and the daughter of the King said, "Nay, but pipe me the song

of the morrow". And he piped it, and it was long like years.
Now when the nine years were gone, the King's daughter of Duntrine

got her to her feet, like one that remembers; and she looked about
her in the masoned house; and all her servants were gone; only the

man that piped sat upon the terrace with the hand upon his face;
and as he piped the leaves ran about the terrace and the sea beat

along the wall. Then she cried to him with a great voice, "This is
the hour, and let me see the power in it". And with that the wind

blew off the hood from the man's face, and, lo! there was no man
there, only the clothes and the hood and the pipes tumbled one upon

another in a corner of the terrace, and the dead leaves ran over
them.

And the King's daughter of Duntrine got her to that part of the
beach where strange things had been done in the ancient ages; and

there she sat her down. The sea foam ran to her feet, and the dead
leaves swarmed about her back, and the veil blew about her face in

the blowing of the wind. And when she lifted up her eyes, there
was the daughter of a King come walking on the beach. Her hair was

like the spun gold, and her eyes like pools in a river, and she had
no thought for the morrow and no power upon the hour, after the

manner of simple men.
End

• unhappy [ʌn´hæpi] a.不幸的；不快乐的 (初中英语单词)
• weakness [´wi:knis] n.虚弱；弱点，缺点 (初中英语单词)
• abroad [ə´brɔ:d] ad.海外；到处；广泛 (初中英语单词)
• perceive [pə´si:v] vt.察觉；看出；领悟 (初中英语单词)
• marvel [´mɑ:vəl] n.令人惊异的事；奇迹 (初中英语单词)
• longing [´lɔŋiŋ] n.&a.渴望(的) (高中英语单词)
• chamber [´tʃeimbə] n.房间；议院；会议室 (高中英语单词)
• terrace [´terəs] n.梯田 vt.使成梯田 (高中英语单词)
• tangle [´tæŋgəl] n.&vt.(使)缠结；纠纷 (高中英语单词)
• hearing [´hiəriŋ] n.听力；听证会；审讯 (高中英语单词)
• margin [´mɑ:dʒin] n.边缘；空白；余地 (高中英语单词)
• morrow [´mɔrəu] n.翌日 (英语四级单词)
• befell [bi´fel] befall的过去式 (英语四级单词)
• marrow [´mærəu] n.(骨)髓；精华；活力 (英语六级单词)