er back to me again." Then they all bowed again.
And as they moved away, Effie heard the song that the maidens at the
wheels and looms sang.

The Song of the Sea-Maidens.

I.

Spin, maidens, spin! let the wheel go round!
Hours that once are lost can never more be found.
(_Chorus_) Work, hands! Love, heart!
Every one here has his part,----
Has his work to do,--has his love to give,
Thus we work, thus we love ever while we live.

II.

Weave, maidens, weave! let the shuttle fly!
Time and we are racing; faster, faster ply!

(_Chorus_) Work, hands! Love, heart! etc.

III.

Sing, maidens, sing! as ye spin and weave,
Work was never meant our joyous hearts to grieve,

(_Chorus_) Work, hands! Love, heart! etc.

IV.

As the wheel goes round--as the shuttle flies,
Let your songs and hearts upward, upward rise!

(_Chorus_) Work, hands! Love, heart!
Every one here has his part, etc.

They passed out of the hall, and the little sea green man said, "To the
Top!" So they came to the top of the house, and there they saw hundreds
and thousands of little coral insects, working to make the house more
beautiful, and each, when he had done all that he could, lay down and
died. And the little man told Effie how all this beautiful palace had
been made by these insects and how it never would stop growing, but
always some coral insect would be doing his tiny work, and when he had
done all he could, would die.

"What is that humming?" asked Effie.

"That is the song they sing as they work," said he. "Listen! do you not
hear it?" Effie listened hard and just caught a few words of the chorus.

"Every one here has his part----
Has his work to do, has his love to give,----
Thus we work, thus we love ever while we live."

"Why, that is what the maidens who were spinning sang," said she.

"Yes," said he, "they all sing the same song to different music." Then
she began to hear the words all about her, and she found that the little
sea green man, and the fishes, small and great, and the dolphins and the
old constable sword fish were all singing the same song, each in his own
way. So they went down again and through the whole palace and saw the
shells, some of them indeed making pearls, but all singing the same
song, and the sponges that were growing and the branches of coraline
that one by one loosened themselves