lage lived a maiden,
Fairest of all comely maidens
Ever born among the Tamals;
Fair of face and pure of spirit,
Kind in thought and quick in service
To the young and old and helpless;
Ever eager for her duty,
Ever singing at her labor.

When she sat beneath the buckeyes
Grinding acorns in the mortar,
Humming birds came sipping honey
From the heavy scented blossoms;
Wild birds came and sang their sweetest
Music as they perched above her;
And the Fairies came to greet her
Dressed as Butterflies, and fluttered
Round her head and whispered secrets--
Secrets not revealed to others.

Little wonder that the Chieftain,
Young and brave and wise in counsel,
Loved the maid and wished to take her
As his wife to rule his people.
But she answered him with sadness,
For she loved the youth, 'Beloved,
This is not the time for lovers,
But for warriors to make ready,
For a danger comes upon us.
God has sent a warning message
By the Fairies, and they whispered
To me as I ground the acorns
In the mortar 'neath the buckeyes.

Rally all your braves around you,
Seize your strong bows, fill your quivers
With the long flint-pointed arrows;
Guard the ridges to the eastward
Ere the foe shall fall upon us.'

To the eastward where Diablo
Rears its peak above the fog banks
Drifting landward from the ocean,
Lived a warlike tribe of people.
Fierce they were, and grim and cruel,
Worshiping the Fire Demon
Who is crouching in the mountain.

From their heights they saw the waters
Of the Bay of San Francisco
Lying crystal-clear and purple.
Then no Sacramento River
Poured its flood of silt into it,
For a range of hills continued,
All unbroken, from Diablo
To the distant smoking mountain
Which is now called Saint Helena.

Long they watched the bay and marveled
At its strange, alluring beauty;
Watched it in its changing colors--
In the gray of misty mornings,
In the blue of sunny mid-day,
In the glories of the sunset,
In the silver flood of moonlight--
It enticed and seemed to beckon,
Then, as ever, to the strangers.

Long their Wizards danced, and rattled
With their gourds, to rouse the Demon
Of the Mountain to assist