neath the apple-bough
And you shall dream on the lawn so shady,
Lady, lady,
My fair lady,
O my apple-gold lady!

THE LADIES

O if you play a Serena, singer,
How can that harm the Emperor's Daughter?
She would not hear though we danced a year
With her heart a thousand leagues over the water,
Singer, singer,
Wandering singer,
O my honey-sweet singer!

THE WANDERING SINGER

But if I play a Serena, lady,
Let me guard the key of the Emperor's Daughter,
Lest her body should follow her heart like a swallow
And fly a thousand leagues over the water,
Lady, lady,
My fair lady,
O my apple-gold lady!

THE LADIES

(They give the key of the Tower into his hands.)

Now you may play a Serena, singer,
A dream of night for an apple-gold lady,
For the fruit is now on the apple-bough
And the moon is up and the lawn is shady,
Singer, singer,
Wandering singer,
O my honey-sweet singer!

(Once more The Singer plays and The Ladies dance; but one by one they
fall asleep to the drowsy music, and then The Singer steps into the
ring and unlocks the Tower and kisses The Emperor's Daughter. They have
the end of the game to themselves.)

Lover, lover, thy/my own true lover
Has opened a way for the Emperor's Daughter!
The dawn is the goal and the dark the cover
As we sail a thousand leagues over the water--
Lover, lover,
My dear lover,
O my own true lover!

(The Wandering Singer and The Emperor's Daughter float a thousand
leagues in his shallop and live happily ever after. I don't know what
becomes of The Ladies.)

"Bed-time, children!"

In they go.

You see the treatment is a trifle fanciful. But romance gathers round
an old story like lichen on an old branch. And the story of Martin
Pippin in the Apple-Orchard is so old now--some say a year old, some
say even two. How can the children be expected to remember?

But here's the truth of it.

MARTIN PIPPIN IN THE APPLE-ORCHARD

PROLOGUE

PART I

One morning in April Martin Pippin walked in the meadows near
Adversane, and there he saw a young fellow sowing a field with oats
broadcast. So pleasant a sight was enough to arrest Martin for an hour,
though less important things, such as making his living, could not
occupy him for a minute. So he leaned upon the gate, and presently
noticed that for every handful he scattered the young man shed as many
tears