sure-ly.'

'Oh, what about the sleeper you promised to show us?' Dan cried.

''Ere he be--house an' all!' Hobden dived into the prickly heart of the
faggot and took out a dormouse's wonderfully woven nest of grass and
leaves. His blunt fingers parted it as if it had been precious lace, and
tilting it toward the last of the light he showed the little, red, furry
chap curled up inside, his tail between his eyes that were shut for
their winter sleep.

'Let's take him home. Don't breathe on him,' said Una. 'It'll make him
warm and he'll wake up and die straight off. Won't he, Hobby?'

'Dat's a heap better by my reckonin' than wakin' up and findin' himself
in a cage for life. No! We'll lay him into the bottom o' this hedge.
Dat's jus' right! No more trouble for him till come Spring. An' now
we'll go home.'

A Carol

Our Lord Who did the Ox command
To kneel to Judah's King,
He binds His frost upon the land
To ripen it for Spring--
To ripen it for Spring, good sirs,
According to His word;
Which well must be as ye can see--
And who shall judge the Lord?

When we poor fenmen skate the ice
Or shiver on the wold,
We hear the cry of a single tree
That breaks her heart in the cold--
That breaks her heart in the cold, good sirs,
And rendeth by the board;
Which well must be as ye can see--
And who shall judge the Lord?

Her wood is crazed and little worth
Excepting as to burn
That we may warm and make our mirth
Until the Spring return--
Until the Spring return, good sirs,
When people walk abroad;
Which well must be as ye can see--
And who shall judge the Lord?

God bless the master of this house,
And all that sleep therein!
And guard the fens from pirate folk,
And keep us all from sin,
To walk in honesty, good sirs,
Of thought and deed and word!
Which shall befriend our latter end--
And who shall judge the Lord?

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rewards and Fairies, by Rudyard Kipling

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